r.  Of  C4LIF.  LIBRABY,   IOS 


THE 


WORLD  LIGHTED, 


A  STUDY   OF  THE  APOCALYPSE. 


BY 

CHARLES   EDWARD   SMITH, 

AUTHOR   OF 

"THE  BAPTISM  IN  FIRE." 


FUNK   &  WAGNALLS. 

NEW  YORK:  LONDON: 

1 8  &  20  ASTOR  PLACE.  I59°  44  FLEET  STREET. 


All  Rights  Reserved. 
PRINTED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  iu  the  year  1890,  by 

FUNK  &  WAGNALLS, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


PEEFAOE. 


IT  is  surely  not  a  situation  to  be  regarded  with  com- 
placency by  the  Christian  world  that  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal books  of  the  Bible  yet  remains  for  the  most  part 
uncomprehended  and  practically  useless.  It  ought 
to  be  a  matter  of  additional  grief  that  a  conviction  of 
the  impossibility  of  understanding  the  book  has  come 
to.je.xist,  like  that  which  we  feel  about  reaching  the 
North  Pole.  The  consequence  is  that  any  hardy  ex- 
plorer who  ventures  to  attempt  the  opening  up  of  its 
mysteries  is  likely  to  encounter  such  a  condemnatory 
and  disparaging  prejudgment  of  his  undertaking  as 
any  one  would  now  meet  with  who  should  propose  to 
follow  in  the  footsteps  of  Franklin,  Kane,  and  De 
Long. 

The  cause  of  this  state  of  things  is  obviously  very 
similar  to  that  which  has  made  further  Arctic  explo- 
ration so  unpopular.  The  world  is  tired  of  reading  the 
painful  story  of  the  baffled  navigator,  who  pays  with 
his  life  for  his  temerity  in  endeavoring  to  penetrate 
the  secrets  of  the  North.  And  the  Church  is  tired  of 
reading  the  guesses  of  expounders  who  have  essayed 
to  grapple  with  the  perplexities  of  the  Apocalypse, 
only  to  show  how  profoundly  difficult  the  undertaking 
is,  and  how  unequal  to  it  are  those  who  have  attempted 
it.  For  a  new  venture  to  be  made  into  this  terra  in- 


2132884 


cognita  of  Scripture  seems,  as  a  matter  of  course,  only 
another  display  of  foolhardiness. 

We  ought,  however,  not  to  permit  ourselves  to  feel 
thus,  or  to  treat  with  cold  distrust  any  honest  en- 
deavor to  find  out  what  the  Revelation  means.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  find  the  North  Pole,  but  it  is  neces- 
sary for  the  Church  to  understand  the  Apocalypse. 
]t  was  given  that  it  might  be  understood — understood 
sufficiently  to  bring  it  within  the  description  of  "  all 
Scripture"  which  "  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God, 
and  is  profitable  for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correc- 
tion, for  instruction  in  righteousness,  that  the  man  of 
God  may  be  perfect,  thoroughly  furnished  unto  all 
good  works."  The  man  of  God  is  not  furnished  as 
he  ought  to  be  until  he  knows  more  about  the  Apoc- 
alypse. No  matter  how  many  investigators  have 
failed,  new  investigators  should  attempt  the  problem 
until  it  is  solved.  They  should  be  encouraged  rather 
than  discouraged.  Some  day  a  Columbus  will  find 
his  New  World,  and  then  the  kingdom  of  heaven  will 
be  richer  by  the  addition  of  a  much-needed  continent 
to  its  territory. 

There  is  another  reason  for  striving  and  praying  to 
find  out  the  true  meaning  of  the  Apocalypse.  While 
it  remains  not  understood,  it  is  certain  to  be  so  mis- 
understood  as  to  continue  what  it  has  long  been,  the 
prolific  source  of  pestilent  misconceptions  and  most 
hurtful  heresies.  Until  some  one  tells  what  the  book 
means,  and  how  its  symbols  are  to  be  taken,  they  will 
remain  the  fruitful  materials  out  of  which  every 
dreamer  and  enthusiast  will  fashion  his  inventions  at 
his  will.  That  this  pernicious  use  of  this  grand 


PREFACE.  V 

prophecy  may  be  ended,  and  that  the  wonderful 
knowledge  and  help  which  it  undoubtedly  contains 
may  become  the  available  possession  of  the  Church, 
are  certainly  sufficient  motives  to  attempt  again  the 
explanation  of  the  prophecy,  and  yet  again,  until  that 
explanation  is  found  conclusively. 

The  present  writer,  then,  begs  that  the  contribution 
which  he  seeks  to  make  to  this  great  enterprise  be  re- 
ceived not  only  with  civility,  but  with  sympathy  and 
good-will.  He  hopes  that  he  is  not  one  of  those 
singular  spirits  to  whom  the  very  impossibility  of  an 
undertaking  constitutes  its  irresistible  charm.  He  is 
only  one,  as  he  trusts,  of  the  children  of  God,  who  have 
/faith  in  the  Bible  and  faith  in  the  power  of  Christian 
study  and  meditation  to  make  continual  and  delight- 
ful progress  in  the  comprehension  even  of  its  obscurest 
portions.  That  God  may  honor  his  effort  and  give 
to  the  Church  such  a  knowledge  of  the  Revelation  as 
it  has  never  had  before,  he  regards  as  more  to  be  de- 
sired than  to  have  sought  and  discovered  a  new  conti- 
nent. Whether  he  succeed  or  fail  in  this  attempt,  he 
fervently  prays  that  it  may  be  made,  until  all  that  he 
has  hoped  to  do  may  be  fully  accomplished. 

FREDONIA.  N.  Y.,  March  26th,  1889. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

PREFACE Hi 

I.  FINDING  THE  KEY 9 

II.  THE  KEY ' 15 

III.  Is  THIS  WORLD  TO  BE  LIGHTED  UP  ? 28 

IV.  THE  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES 41 

V.  HEAVEN  THE  SOURCE  OP  LIGHT 51 

VI.  THE  OPENING  OF  THE  SEVEN  SEALS 62 

VII.  THE  FOUR  TRUMPETS 75 

VIII.  THE  FIFTH  AND  SIXTH  TRUMPETS 90 

IX.  THE  VISION  OF  THE  TRUTH 99 

X.  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  WORLD 105 

XI.  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  DRAGON 118 

XII.  THE  WILD  BEASTS 133 

XIII.  THE  FORCES  OF  ILLUMINATION 141 

XIV.  THE  ERA  OF  JUDGMENTS 152 

XV.  THE  SEVEN  VIALS ,. 160 

XVI.  THE  SCARLET  WOMAN 172 

XVII.  THE  FALL  OF  BABYLON 180 

XVIII.  THE  PREMILLENNIAL  AGE 188 

XIX.  THE  MILLENNIUM 199 

XX.  THE  NEW  JERUSALEM  . .                                         . .  209 


THE  WORLD   LIGHTED. 


FfiSTDING    THE    KEY. 

IT  is  a  surprising  fact  that,  although  almost  two 
thousand  years  of  the  Christian  era  have  gone,  no  one 
has  yet  discovered  the  key  to  the  Apocalypse — that 
is  to  say,  no  one  has  succeeded  in  getting  such  a  gen- 
eral conception  of  the  purpose  of  the  book  as  would 
make  it  generally  intelligible.  It  cannot  truthfully 
be  said  that  this  has  yet  been  done.  The  utmost  that 
any  commentator  has  accomplished,  so  far,  is  to  eluci- 
date passages  of  the  book  by  what  seem  more  like 
happy  guesses  at  its  meaning,  than  interpretations 
founded  upon  the  sure  basis  of  a  clear  perception  of 
the  leading  purpose  of  the  Apocalypse. 

Perhaps  some  modification  of  the  apparently  sweep- 
ing character  of  this  denial  ought  to  be  made.  It 
ought  to  be  admitted  that  even  the  unlearned  reader, 
if  he  be  a  sincere  Christian,  can  find,  and  does  find, 
occasional  passages  in  it  of  which  he  has  some  not 
doubtful  idea  of  the  meaning.  The  Revelation  of 
John  is  the  Rocky  Mountain  region  of  the  Scriptures, 
in  which  even  the  most  untutored  wanderer  comes  to 


10  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

the  loveliest  valleys  nestling  here  and  there,  and 
stands  now  and  then  upon  a  peak  of  vision  which 
gives  him  a  broad  and  inspiring  view.  At  the  same 
time,  such  wanderers  have  to  confess  that  they  are 
wanderers  ;  that  of  the  general  topography  of  this 
strange  country  they  know  nothing  whatever  ;  and 
that,  to  their  minds,  it  yet  lies  in  the  utter  confusion 
of  a  primeval  wilderness  that  has  never  been  explored, 
surveyed,  or  mapped.  There  is  probably  no  book 
of  the  Bible  regarding  which  the  ordinary  reader 
feels  so  hopeless  of  ever  having  any  lucid  idea.  It  is 
not  so  very  different  with  the  extraordinary-  readers. 
Even  to  these  the  Apocalypse  yet  remains  an  Africa, 
a  comparatively  unknown  continent.  Like  Africa,  it 
is  true,  this  book  is  being  opened  up  by  exploration  ; 
the  sources  of  the  Nile,  the  Congo  region,  large  sec- 
tions here  and  there  must  now  be  admitted  to  be 
understood,  and  yet,  in  the  absence  of  any  compre- 
hensive notion  of  the  general  purport  of  the  Apoc- 
alypse, it  must  be  confessed  yet  to  await  the  dis- 
coverer who  shall  throw  light  upon  its  principal 
obscurities. 

Is  there,  then,  no  key,  or  has  it  been  lost  beyond 
recovery  ?  Did  the  Author  of  the  Bible  intend  to 
make  this  last  book  so  dark  that  its  purport  should 
remain  perpetually  an  enigma  ?  Has  lie  hidden  the 
key  so  that  it  cannot  be  found  ?  Ought  the  failure  of 
so  many  great  and  good  men  to  find  it  to  make  us  all 
feel  that  it  would  be  presumption  to  look  further  ? 
Or  may  we  say,  the  key  can  be  found  ;  it  was  in- 
tended by  God  that  it  should  be  found.  The  audacity 
of  one  who  looks  for  it,  and  who  thinks  that  he  has 


FINDING   THE    KEY.  11 

found  it,  may  be  only  the  "eureka"  of  every  dis- 
coverer who  finds  that  regarding  which  everybody 
wonders,  when  it  is  brought  to  light,  that  he  did  not 
see  it  himself  ? 

Supposing  now  that  we  have  courage  enough  to 
look  for  this  key,  let  us  consider  (as  we  should)  .where 
it  may  probably  be.  Are  any  considerations  likely 
to  be  derived  from  other  books  of  the  Bible  which 
would  aid  us  in  forming  an  opinion  as  to  the  probable 
character  of  the  last  book  ?  Would  the  book  itself  be 
likely  to  contain  a  clew  to  its  own  meaning  ?  If  so, 
what  part  of  the  book  ?  Would  the  door  of  a  house 
be  a  proper  place  in  which  to  expect  to  find  the  key  ? 
Would  the  beginning  and  introduction  of  the  Apoc- 
alypse be  likely  to  contain  some  sufficient  hints  as  to 
the  nature  of  what  follows  ?  Asking  ourselves  such 
questions  as  these,  we  shall,  I  think,  be  able  to  an- 
swer them  unhesitatingly.  Notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  so  much  previous  study  has  yielded  so  little  profit  ; 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  better  men  than  our- 
selves have  been  baffled  ;  nevertheless  we  cannot  help 
thinking  that  there  is  a  key,  that  somebody  is  going 
to  find  it,  that  that  somebody  may  be  one  as  well  as 
another — anybody  who  is  willing  to  look — and  that  he 
will  find  it  partly  by  general  considerations  drawn 
from  other  Scriptures,  but  chiefly  by  carefully  examin- 
ing the  door  of  the  Apocalypse — that  is,  its  introduc- 
tion in  the  first  chapter. 

To  know  where  to  look  is,  of  course,  the  greatest 
possible  encouragement  that  one  is  going  to  be  able 
to  find  anything  that  has  been  lost.  If  we  can  get 
any  glimmer  of  probability  regarding  this  matter,  we 


12  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

can  fall  to  looking  again  with  a  good  heart,  even  after 
any  number  of  previous  failures.  It  may  be  well  to 
point  out  here  the  fact  that  there  has  been,  in  the 
minds  of  previous  investigators,  little  idea  that  the 
clew  to  Revelation  was  any  more  likely  to  be  found 
in  one  place  than  in  any  other. 

It  is  only  one  of  the  many  signs  of  the  general  be- 
wilderment regarding  this  book  that  students  of  it 
should  be  so  uncertain  where  to  look  for  its  key,  and 
equally  ready  to  expect  to  find  it  anywhere.  As  a 
general  thing  they  get  far  on  in  the  study  of  it  before 
they  discover  anything  that  looks  to  them  like  a  clew. 
Alford  does,  indeed,  find  his  supposed  clew  in  the 
first  chapter.  But  it  is  not  so  with  most.  Dr.  Bran- 
son's "Key  to  the  Apocalypse"  he  discovers  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  book,  in  the  chapters  which  relate 
to  the  fall  of  the  papacy.  Some  find  the  leading  con- 
ception of  the  prophecy  in  that  cry  for  vengeance 
which  is  uttered  by  the  souls  seen  under  the  altar  in 
the  sixth  chapter.  Eenan  was  so  absurd  as  to  claim 
that  his  explanation  of  a  passage  in  the  seventeenth 
chapter,  concerning  "  the  beast  that  was,  and  is  not, 
and  yet  is,"  which  he  thought  had  been  suggested  by 
what  is  called  the  "  Nero-fable"  of  history,  is  the 
originating  principle  of  the  whole  book,  the  mere 
de  V Apocalypse.  I  mention  but  one  more,  and  that 
the  one  which  I  should  regard  as  entitled  to  the  most 
respect,  on  account  of  the  general  excellence  of  the 
work  in  which  it  is  found.  Dr.  Justin  A.  Smith's 
"  Commentary  on  the  Revelation,"  in  the  preparation 
of  which  he  had  the  scholarly  assistance  of  Dr.  Boise, 
and  which  had  the  further  advantage  of  being  edited  by 


FINDING   THE   KEY.  13 

Dr.  Alvah  Hovey,  one  of  the  most  accomplished  of 
modern  biblical  investigators,  is  by  far  the  best  com- 
mentary on  this  book  with  which  I  am  acquainted.  I 
cannot  too  strongly  express  my  admiration  for  the 
great  learning,  the  carefulness  and  candor,  and  the 
extraordinary  good  sense  and  sound  judgment  of  the 
authors  of  this  work.  Not  having  examined  it  until 
I  had  about  half  completed  these  studies  of  my  own, 
I  almost  thought  that  my  own  conclusions  had  been 
anticipated,  so  largely  did  its  interpretations  run 
parallel  with  mine.  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  appeal  to 
such  a  valuable  authority  for  the  corroboration  of 
many  of  my  own  views.  It  seems  as  if  they  would 
att~have  been:  anticipated  if  Dr.  Smith  and  his  co- 
adjutors had  had  the  good  fortune  to  lay  hold,  at  the 
outset,  of  the  same  general  conception  of  the  inten- 
tion of  the  Apocalypse.  The  great  merits  of  this 
work,  however,  serve  to  make  all  the  more  obvious 
the  common  bewilderment  as  to  where  the  key  is 
likely  to  be  found.  For  Dr.  Smith  finds  what  he 
calls  the  "  adjusting  principle"  of  the  Revelation  in 
an  obscure  expression  of  the  tenth  chapter — viz.,  "  the 
mystery  of  God." 

Is  it  likely,  I  ask,  that  the  Inspirer  of  the  prophecy 
would  have  left  its  readers  to  stumble  on  so  far 
through  this  most  labyrinthine  of  all  the  Scriptures  be- 
fore the  clew  to  its  windings  was  furnished  ?  Or  does 
it  seem  more  probable  that,  as  Ariadne  supplied 
Theseus  with  a  thread  at  the  very  entrance  of  the 
cavern  which  he  had  to  penetrate,  so  God  would  put 
a  torch  into  the  hands  of  His  children  at  the  very  be- 
ginning of  their  task  ?  There  is  certainly  a  very 


14  THE   \VOKLD    LIGHTED. 

strong  probability  in  favor  of  a  clew  thus  obtained  at 
the  start  over  one  which  has  to  be  picked  up  in  some 
unexpected  place  far  on  in  the  prophecy.  Let  us 
look  for  the  key,  then,  somewhere  in  the  first 
chapter  ! 


II. 

THE   KEY. 

HE  would  be  a  bold  man  who  should  say,  I  am  sure 
that  I  have  found  the  key  to  the  meaning  of  the 
Apocalypse.  Where  so  many  have  tried  and  failed, 
where  the  wisest  and  most  trusted  venture  only  with 
hesitation,  it  would  be  presumptuous  to  tread  except 
with  utmost  modesty  and  entire  freedom  from  a  dog- 
matic spirit.  But  since  no  view  of  this  remarkable 
took  yet  commands  general  acceptance,  it  is  still  open 
to  any  investigator  to  find  a  better  one.  Over  the 
portals  of  the  prophecy  is  inscribed  a  blessing  upon 
him  "  that  readeth"  and  them  "  that  hear"  its  words. 
That  is  a  divine  invitation  to  try  to  find  the  lost  key. 
The  motive  is  a  great  one.  He  who  succeeds  in  this 
search  will  be  so  happy  as  to  open  the  meaning  of  this 
book  as  it  was  never  opened  before.  Even  though 
one  should  fail,  he  may  at  least  hope  to  belong  to  a 
not  ignoble  company  of  reverent  scholars,  each  of 
whom  has  flashed  the  light  of  his  torch  upon  some  of 
the  dark  places  in  this  most  difficult  book  of  the  Bible. 

The  key  to  the  Apocalypse  is  such  a  general  con- 
ception of  its  purpose  as  will  enable  us  to  see  the  har- 
mony of  its  various  parts  with  that  conception.  No 
such  "  adjusting  principle"  has  ever  yet  been  demon- 
strated, and  hence  we  have  no  such  key.  I  have  men- 
tioned several  ideas  which  have"  been  suggested  as 


16  THE   WORLD   LIGHTED. 

having  been  formative  in  the  production  of  the  book, 
but  it  remains  to  be  shown  that  any  one  of  them  de- 
serves this  high  credit.  I  do  not  think  that  it  can  be 
shown.  For  that  purpose  it  would  be  necessary  to  go 
through  the  Apocalypse,  and  find  its  parts  all  spring- 
ing from  such  a  germinal"  idea.  ?  I  do  not  know  that 
the  sponsors  for  these  various  conceptions  have  even 
attempted  such  a  task.  But  they  cannot  know  that 
they  are  correct  without  attempting  it. 

When  Newton  hit  upon  the  idea  of  gravitation,  it 
was  found  to  agree  with  all  the  facts  of  astronomy  so 
universally  and  so  minutely  that  nobody  could  doubt 
its  truth.  The  key  fitted  all  the  wards  in  the  lock, 
and  was  demonstrated  to  belong  to  it  beyond  ques- 
tion. Is  there  such  a  general  conception  of  the  inten- 
tion and  plan  of  this  book  as  will  fit  its  various  parts 
and  representations,  and  thus  prove  itself  to  be  the 
divine  idea  according  to  which  this  most  ingenious  and 
intricate  literary  production  is  constructed  ?  This, 
and  nothing  less  than  this,  must  be  our  task  :  first  to 
find  that  which  looks  like  a  key  in  the  very  place 
where  a  key  ought  to  be,  and  then  to  prove  our  find- 
ing by  going  through  the  whole  structure  and  unlock- 
ing every  door.  When  we  have  done  that  we  shall 
be  quite  sure  that  we  have  the  key. 

Our  first  inquiry  must  be,  What  is  there  in  the  in- 
troductory chapter  of  Revelation  which  may  probably 
be  the  clew  to  the  plan  of  the  entire  book  ? 

To  settle  this  question,  let  the  reader  go  over  and 
over  the  chapter  until  all  its  prominent  thoughts  have 
been  grasped.  As  I  have  done  this  there  has  grad- 
ually been  made  to  stand  out  before  my  mind,  against 


THE    KEY.  17 

the  background  of  the  remainder  of  the  chapter,  that 
remarkable  vision  described  in  the  last  seven  verses. 
All  that  goes  before  leads  up  to  this.  Dwelling  long 
enough  upon  its  details  for  the  imagination  to  place 
them  before  the  mind's  eye,  one  at  length  beholds,  as 
John  did,  a  magnificent  array  of  light-bearers. 
"Seven  golden  candlesticks."  "SEVEN  STARS." 
"THE  STINT' 

I  acknowledge  that  I  have  separated  these  expres- 
sions from  their  connections,  but  I  have  done  so  be- 
cause it  seems  to  me  that  in  looking  at  the  connections 
we  lose  sight  of  the  more  important  things  connected. 
Having  once  seen  that  these  luminaries  are  all  there, 
thereTis  no  objection  to  restoring  the  connecting  words. 
None  of  those  words  in  the  least  impair  the  effect  of 
the  impression  which  has  been  gained  by  first  looking 
at  the  luminaries  alone.  The  seven  candlesticks  aro 
none  the  less  candlesticks  that  "  one  like  unto  the  Son 
of  man"  is  in  the  midst  of  them.  The  seven  stars  are 
none  the  less  stars  that  they  are  in  the  right  hand  of 
the  Son  of  man.  The  sun  is  none  the  less  a  sun  that 
it  is  the  countenance  of  the  same  majestic  figure  of 
which  it  is  said  that  "  His  countenance  was  as  the  sun 
shineth  in  his  strength."  *  The  more  one  reflects 
upon  this  chapter,  the  more  he  will  feel  that  its  most 
salient  feature  is  this  vision  of  light-bearers,  and  that 
this  vision  must  have  a  natural  and  easily  understood 
significance,  which  is  intended  to  suggest  the  purport 
of  the  entire  book. 


*  "  Not  the  countenance,  but  the  appearance  in  general ;"  "  The 
entire  form  appears  as  surrounded  with  the  brilliancy  of  the  sun" 
(Dusterdieck  in  loco,  with  whom  best  commentators  agree). 


18  THE    WORLD   LIGHTED. 

Regarding  this  sublime  vision  Dr.  Justin  A.  Smith 
remarks  profoundly  :  "  Rich  as  the  Bible  is  in  vision, 
symbol,  and  allegory,  it  is  perhaps  impossible  to  name 
any  passage  which  in  suggestiveness,  alike  sublime 
and  tender,  surpasses  or  even  equals  this,  in  which 
Jesus  in  glory  appears  to  John  in  the  desolation  of  his 
exile."  If  that  be  a  just  estimate,  and  it  undoubtedly 
is,  why  is  not  this  passage  worthy  to  furnish  the  key 
to  the  Apocalypse  ?  And  yet  nobody  seems  to  have 
thought  of  it  as  such.  It  has  been  passed  over  as 
having  no  special  significance  growing  out  of  its 
prominence  as  the  h'rst  vision  in  a  book  of  visions, 
and  students  have  looked  anywhere  and  everywhere 
else  to  find  the  germinal  idea  of  the  book. 

It  cannot  be  an  accident  that  the  Apocalypse  is 
placed  last  of  all  the  books  of  the  Bible.  It  is  last 
because  it  has  a  fitness  to  be  last ;  it  was  divinely  in- 
tended to  end  the  sacred  volume.  Many  have*  noticed 
that  the  Paradise  which  was  lost  in  Genesis  is  regained 
in  Revelation,  and  that  other  types  found  in  the  first 
book  of  the  Scriptures  reappear  in  the  last  book. 
Fewer  have  observed  the  completeness  of  this  circle 
of  divine  thought.  What  is  the  first  type  of  all  1  Is 
it  not  light,  coming  to  displace  the  darkness  which 
was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep  ?  Does  not  the  sublime 
fiat,  l<  Let  there  be  light  !"  stand  at  the  very  thresh- 
old of  inspiration,  as  if  to  announce  the  dawn  not 
only  of  light  physical,  but  also  of  light  spiritual  ? 
What  is  inspiration,  what  is  any  truth,  but  light*  for 

*  That  light  symbolizes  truth  in  the  Scriptures  may  almost  be 
taken  for  granted.  It  is,  at  any  rate,  the  predominant  idea  : 
Psalm  43  :  3,  "  O  send  out  Thy  light  and  Thy  truth  !' '  Psalm  119  : 


THE   KEY.  19 

man's  mental  darkness  ?  If  now  Holy  Writ  com- 
plete the  cycle  of  revelation,  it  will  end,  as  it  begins, 
with  light;  with  the  completion  of  the  purpose  of 
God  announced  at  the  outset  to  give  spiritual  light  to 
the  world.  The  Apocalypse  probahly  belongs  at  the 
end  of  the  canon  because,  and  only  because,  it  tells 
how  God  will  carry  out  to  the  full  His  great  intention 
to  shed  truth  upon  mankind. 

Having  thus  indicated  to  the  reader  what  I  regard 
as  the  seminal  principle  of  the  book,  I  wish  to  con- 
sider another  and  rival  claim.  1  refer  to  that  of  Dean 
Alford.  No  other  which  I  have  seen  demands  con- 
sideration here,  because  no  other  has  been  found  in 
th«~place  where  I  have  contended  that  the  key  ought 
to  be  found.  But  Alford  also  finds  his  clew  in  the 
first  chapter,  in  one  of  the  opening  verses  of  the 
chapter — "Behold,  He  cometh  with  clouds;  and 
every  eye  shall  see  Him,  and  they  also  which  pierced 
Him  :  and  all  kindreds  of  the  earth  shall  wail  because 
of  Him.  Even  so,  Amen."  Taking  this  passage 
with  other  similar  passages  of  the  book,  especially 
some  of  its  closing  words,  Dean  Alford  decides  that 
the  subject  of  the  book  must  be  the  second,  and  per- 
sonal, and  glorious  coming  of  our  Lord. 

105,  "  Thy  word  is  a  light  unto  my  path  ;"  Proverbs  6  :  23, 
"  The  law  is  light  ;"  1  John  1  :  5,  "  God  is  light,  and  in  Him 
ia  no  darkness  at  all.' '  Alford  comments,  "  He  is  the  Fountain  of 
light  material  and  light  ethical.  In  the  one  world  darkness  is 
the  absence  of  light  ;  in  tho  other,  darkness,  untruthfulness,  deceit, 
falsehood,  is  the  absence  of  God."  "  Of  the  ethical  darkness  here 
denied,  the  Schol.  says,  '  Neither  ignorance,  nor  deceit,  nor  sin, 
nor  death.'  "  See  also  Bernard's  definition  of  light  in  his  "  Prog- 
ress of  Doctrine  in  the  New  Testament,"  pp.  116,  117. 


20  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

Positive  as  he  feels,  however,  about  this  conclusion, 
it  does  not  appear  to  have  served  him  very  much  as  a 
key  to  the  contents  of  the  prophecy.  He  confesses 
upon  many  a  page  of  his  exposition  that  he  is  wholly 
at  a  loss  in  seeking  for  an  intelligible  meaning.  If  he 
is  to  be  believed,  all  interpreters  before  himself  have 
been  betrayed  into  many  blunders,  and  have  only 
here  and  there  got  a  momentary  glimpse  of  the  intent 
of  the  book.  His  own  chief  claim  is  that  he  has  laid 
hold  of  certain  fundamental  facts  which  must  be  used 
in  threading  the  labyrinth  of  the  prophecy.  The 
principal  of  these  facts  is  that  the  book  treats  of  the 
second  and  personal  coming  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
But  it  must  be  confessed  that  this  guiding  principle 
did  not  serve  Alford  very  well  ;  we  know  that  from 
his  own  frequent  acknowledgment.  He  seems  to 
think  that  he  has  a  key,  and  yet  is  unable  to  open 
many  of  the  doors.  He  might  almost  as  well  have  no 
key  at  all. 

It  must  be  admitted,  nevertheless,  that  the  promi- 
nence of  the  passage  and  the  impressiveness  of  the 
words  from  which  Alford  derives  his  idea  seem  to 
demand  for  them  some  considerable  part  in  determin- 
ing the  subject-matter  of  the  book.  The  question  is 
not  whether  the  passage  is  important,  but  whether 
Alford  has  correctly  defined  its  importance.  Is  he 
justified  in  at  once  taking  it  for  granted  that  the  pas- 
sage relates,  and  relates  solely,  to  the  coming  of  our 
Lord  in  glory  ?  Admit  that  the  words  contain  a 
sweep  of  prophetic  vision  which  extends  on  to  the 
final  conclusion  of  all  things.  But  may  they  not  also 
include  a  suggestion  of  some  other  and  intermediate 


THE    KEY.  21 

"  coming,"  which  is  rather  to  be  considered  the  main 
subject  of  the  book  ?  The  question  is  how  we  are  to 
interpret  the  language,  and  whether  the  vision  which 
follows  it  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  a  more  explicit  in- 
dication of  the  kind  of  coming  intended.  In  a  word, 
does  not  the  vision  compel  us  to  decide  that  it  is 
Christ's  coming  in  His  truth,  and  as  the  Truth,  which 
is  meant  rather  than,  or,  perhaps,  as  the  grand  prepa- 
ration required  for,  His  coining  in  His  glory  ? 

To  settle  this  question  it  is  not  enough  to  appeal  to 
the  numerous  instances  in  which  a  coming  of  Christ 
of  some  sort  is  referred  to.  The  New  Testament 
speaks  of  many  comings  of  many  kinds.  Great  con- 
ftision  of  thought  arises  from  a  failure  to  discriminate 
these  various  kinds  of  comings  from  one  another. 
Bishop  Merrill,  in  his  work  on  the  "  Second  Coming 
of  Christ,"  points  out  a  distinction  which  ought  to  be 
made  in  the  gospels  between  Christ's  coming  in  His 
kingdom  and  His  coming  in  His  glory.  If  this  be  a 
legitimate  distinction  it  clears  up  a  good  deal  of  ap- 
parent conflict  between  passages  which  treat  of  the 
second  coining ;  but  Alford  has  quite  failed  to  grasp 
any  such  distinction.  References  to  Christ's  coming 
in  His  kingdom  he  applies  to  His  personal  coming. 
But  in  so  doing  he  makes  a  mistake  which  is  fatal,  in 
my  judgment,  to  a  correct  interpretation  of  the  Apoc- 
alypse. 

The  coming  of  Christ  in  this  book  was  to  be  a 
speedy  coming.  "  Behold,  I  come  quickly  !"  To  as- 
sert this  to  be  true  of  Christ's  coming  in  His  glory, 
and  to  say  that  any  coming,  at  however  remote  a  date, 
is  to  be  regarded  as  speedy,  is  to  say  that  words  have 


THE   WORLD    LIGHTED. 


been  used  out  of  their  meaning.  The  prophecy  was 
of  things  that  were  shortly  to  come  to  pass,  and 
Christ's  personal  coming  is  yet,  for  aught  that  we 
know,  far  in  the  distance.  "  They  also  which  pierced 
Him"  were  to  see  this  coming,  reminding  us  of  our 
Lord's  own  prediction  that  He  was  to  come  before 
some  who  heard  Him  speak  should  "  taste  of  death." 
To  the  high-priest  He  said,  "  Hereafter  ye  shall  see 
the  Son  of  man  sitting  on  the  right  hand  of  power, 
and  coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven."  This  language 
admits  of  a  double  explanation,  the  coming  of  Christ 
at  the  Judgment  and  His  coming  in  the  progress  of 
His  religion,  and  in  the  overthrow  of  Judaism,  even 
in  the  high-priest's  lifetime.  The  difficulty  which 
we  feel  in  applying  terms  of  haste  to  the  personal 
coming  of  our  Lord  disappears  when  we  think  of  His 
coming  in  the  truth,  which,  if  we  consider  the  diffi- 
culties in  its  way,  has  made  rapid  progress. 

"  Behold,  He  cometh  with  clouds  !"  Is  not  this  the 
description  of  Christ's  personal  coming  ?  Not  neces- 
sarily. The  expression  is  the  connecting  link  between 
the  Apocalypse  and  Daniel's  vision  of  the  coming  king- 
dom of  heaven,  in  his  seventh  chapter.  In  that  vision, 
while  the  earthly  kingdoms  were  represented  by  wild 
beasts  coming  up  from  below,  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
was  represented  by  "  one  like  unto  the  Son  of  man, 
coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven."  The  clouds  above 
are  the  opposite  of  the  sea  below.  They  denote  the 
heavenly  and  divine  origin  of  this  kingdom  in  con- 
trast with  the  earthly  and  diabolic  sources  of  the  king- 
doms which  it  is  to  conquer.  The  Son  of  man  is  the 
opposite  of  the  beasts,  indicating  that  the  kingdom  of 


THE    KEY.  23 

heaven  js  to  be  human,  and  rational,  and  godlike 
rather  than  beastly,  and  irrational,  and  devilish.  That 
the  reign  portrayed  is  not  Christ's  personal  reign,  at 
least  upon  earth,  is  distinctly  affirmed.  Again  and 
again  we  are  assured  that  "  the  kingdom  is  to  be  given 
to  the  saints  of  the  Most  High."  What  Daniel  taught 
by  the  vision  of  the  Son  of  man  coming  in  the  clouds 
of  heaven  is  the  progress  of  the  Church  in  subduing 
and  ruling  over  the  world. 

Now  what  this  expression  meant  in  Daniel  it  may 
mean  in  Revelation.  May  we  not  speak  more  strongly, 
and  say  that  it  does  probably  mean  the  same  thing  in 
one  book  that  it  does  in  the  other  ?  The  two  books 
afeT essentially  of  the  same  kind ;  not  only  here,  but 
elsewhere,  the  Apocalypse  takes  up  the  symbolism  of 
Daniel  and  uses  it  and  extends  it.  The  two  books 
might  almost  be  considered  two  volumes  of  the  same 
book.  If  now  the  symbolism  of  the  Son  of  man  com- 
ing in  the  clouds  of  heaven  is  not  to  be  taken  so  much 
as  a  definite  portrait  of  Christ  and  a  picture  of  a 
single  event  in  His  history  as  a  figurative  representa- 
tion of  His  Church  and  its  fortunes  ;  if,  I  say,  this  be 
its  meaning  in  Daniel,  why  should  it  not  be  its  mean- 
ing in  Revelation  ?  Certainly  this  is  the  most  reason- 
able interpretation.  Beginning  to  -interpret  in  this 
way  at  the  outset  of  the  book,  we  shall  avoid  making 
caricatures  of  our  Lord  and  of  His  history  farther 
on,  into  which  the  literal  method  of  interpretation 
would  lead  us.  We  get  our  first  all-important  hint  as 
to  the  nature  of  the  book  which  we  are  studying,  that 
everywhere  it  is  symbolism  that  we  must  expect,  and 
not  realistic  portraits  and  definite  statements. 


24  THE    WOULD    LIGHTED. 

The  Apocalypse,  then,  takes  up  Daniel's  revelation 
concerning  the  kingdom  of  heaven  upon  earth,  and 
carries  it  further.  What  does  it  add,  here  in  this  first 
chapter,  foreshadowing  what  is  to  come  through  the 
whole  book  ?  It  adds  many  things,  but  the  chief  of 
them  is  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  a  kingdom  of 
light.  Daniel  did  not  tell  how  the  saints  of  the  Most 
High  were  to  come  into  the  possession  of  their  king- 
dom. But  the  Apocalypse  tells  here  upon  its  first 
page.  It  says  tjiat  they  are  to  get  their  kingdom  by 
shining.  For  how  does  the  vision  of  the  Son  of  man, 
beheld  by  John,  differ  from  that  seen  by  Daniel  ? 
The  answer  is  the  key  to  the  meaning  of  the  Apoc- 
alypse. Strange  that  so  little  heed  should  have  been 
taken  of  this  difference,  and  of  its  bearing  upon  the 
interpretation  of  the  entire  book.  The  Son  of  man 
now  has  an  appearance  like  the  sun,  holds  in  His  right 
hand  seven  stars,  and  stands  in  the  midst  of  seven 
golden  candlesticks.  The  sun,  the  stars,  the  candle- 
sticks— all  are  light-bearers.  Is  it  possible  to  escape 
the  significance  of  these  symbols  ?  What  do  they 
mean,  what  else  can  they  mean,  but  that  the  chief 
characteristic  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  upon  earth  is 
that  it  is  a  kingdom  of  light,  and  that  the  chief  means 
by  which  this  kingdom  is  to  extend  itself  is  the  im- 
partation  of  truth,  until  all  error  is  destroyed  and 
knowledge  everywhere  prevails  ?  Is  not  this  grand 
illumination,  with  which  the  book  opens,  a  prophecy 
and  a  promise  that  the  whole  of  this  dark  world  is  to 
be  lighted  up  with  "  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of 
God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ"  ? 

There  is  another  most  significant  item  in  the  de- 


THE    KEY.  25 

scription  of  the  Son  of  man.  Out  of  His  mouth  pro- 
ceeds a  sharp  sword.  As  a  portrait  this  is  grotesque, 
but  as  symbolism  it  is  noble  and  intelligible.  For  we 
know  what  this  sword  is  ;  it  is  the  "  Word  of  God,5' 
which  is  "  sharper  than  a  two-edged  sword,  piercing 
even  to  the  dividing  asunder  of  soul  and  spirit,  and 
of  the  joints  and  marrow,  and  is  a  discerner  of  the 
thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart."  We  are  re- 
minded also  of  that  sublime  apostrophe  in  one  of  the 
Messianic  psalms  (the  45th),  "  Gird  Thy  sword  upon 
thy  thigh,  O  most  mighty,  with  Thy  glory  and  Thy 
majesty.  And  in  Thy  majesty  ride  prosperously  be- 
cause of  truth  and  meekness  and  righteousness." 
(Consider  now  the  force  of  these  combined  symbols, 
found  upon  what  may  be  called  the  title-page  of  the 
Apocalypse,  or  in  the  prologue  of  the  dramatic  action 
afterward  to  be  described.  Do  they  not  beyond 
question  inform  us  that  the  whole  book  relates  to  the 
progress  of  truth  in  enlightening  the  moral  darkness 
of  the  world,  and  that  the  wars  therein  described  are 
the  wars  between  truth  and  error,  and  the  victory  the 
victory  of  complete  and  universal  knowledge  over  all 
ignorance  and  so  over  all  sin  ?  "X^ 

1  propose,  then,  this  conception — The  Progress  of 
Truth  in  Enlightening  and  Saving  Mankind — as  the 
fundamental  idea  of  the  Apocalypse,  and  the  key  to 
the  meaning  of  its  symbols.  1  believe  that  this  idea 
applied  to  the  various  parts  of  the  book  introduces  an 
order  and  makes  possible  a  harmony  never  before 
found  by  any  system  of  interpretation.  With  this 
clew  1  do  not  despair  of  being  able  to  make  even 
liim  who  sits  in  the  room  of  the  unlearned  feel  that 


26  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

he  has  a  pretty  clear  and  decidedly  delightful  concep- 
tion of  what  the  Apocalypse  means. 

There  is  still  another  direction  in  which  confirma- 
tion may  be  obtained  before  we  proceed  further. 
There  are  other  facts  which  create  expectation  that  a 
denouement  of  this  kind  would  be  the  conclusion  of 
the  inspired  volume.  If  the  victory  of  truth  be  the 
last  word  of  revelation,  we  might  expect  to  find  way- 
marks  leading  up  to  this  close.  So  we  do.  The  care- 
ful reader  of  John's  epistles  will"  find  much  in  them 
about  truth,  the  truth.  There  is  not  much  else  in  the 
short  second  and  third  epistles.  The  first  one  opens 
with  the  message  that  "'  God  is  light,  and  in  Him  is 
no  darkness  at  all,"  and  closes  with  the  emphasis  to 
be  placed  upon  the  facts  of  Christian  knowledge. 
Jude's  message  is  the  necessity  of  contending  earnestly 
for  the  faith  once  delivered  unto  the  saints.  It  is  as 
if  those  who  were  appointed  to  utter  the  closing  words 
of  the  Bible  realized  especially  the  immense  impor- 
tance of  right  doctrine  in  the  great  struggle  before  the 
Church.  These  apostles  laid  increased  emphasis  upon 
correct  Christian  ideas,  and  called  the  children  of  God 
to  be  clear  and  positive  and  scriptural  in  all  their 
teachings.  One  who  notes  these  signs  will  not  be 
surprised  when  he  finds  that  the  very  last  book  of  the 
Bible  is  devoted  to  a  description,  by  means  of  sym- 
bols, of  the  great  war  between  God's  truth  and  the 
devil's  lies,  and  the  picturing  of  the  glorious  results 
when  truth  shall  have  done  its  perfect  work. 

If  this  idea  of  the  book  be  the  correct  one,  it  must 
have  a  radical  effect  upon  our  method  of  interpreta- 
tion. We  are  relieved  from  the  necessity  of  identify- 


THE   KEY.  27 

ing  the  conflicts  described  with  any  of  the  material 
conflicts  of  history.  Under  the  cover  of  such  war- 
ring, and  of  other  material  phenomena,  the  Holy 
Spirit  has  really  described  the  long  war  between  truth 
and  error.  It  is,  perhaps,  the  only  method  that  could 
have  been  taken.  The  actual  war  of  ideas,  of  right 
doctrine  with  false  doctrine,  of  sound  knowledge  with 
human  fancies  and  prejudices  and  perversions,  could 
hardly  have  been  literally  set  forth.  It  was  set  forth 
under  the  symbolism  of  battle,  and  blood,  and  tire, 
and  earthquakes,  and  portents  and  prodigies  in  heaven 
and  earth  far  beyond  what  any  human  imagination 
could  have  invented.  As  we  read  the  descriptions 
\yTTare  to  be  thinking  of  the  great  spiritual  conflict, 
which  is  the  real  one.  Kot  that  this  does  not  involve 
and  imply  the  other,  or  that  sometimes  the  literal 
shock  of  arms  may  not  be  discovered  and,  perhaps, 
identified.  But  this  identification  is  not  essential  to 
our  having  a  fairly  clear  idea  of  the  purport  of  what 
we  are  reading.  It  is  not  necessary  to  be  so  thor- 
oughly versed  in  European  history  as  to  be  able  to 
select  among  its  numberless  details  that  one  which 
was  of  sufficient  importance  to  be  predicted  by  in- 
spiration. The  general  truth  conveyed  concerning 
the  great  struggle  of  light  with  darkness,  and  its  suc- 
cessive stages,  reverses,  and  victories,  may  be  dis- 
tinctly seen,  and  assurance  grow  as  the  prophecy  pro- 
ceeds that  while  smoke  covers  the  conflict  and  hides 
its  exact  details,  the  right  is  winning  the  day  and  may 
count  upon  complete  triumph. 


III. 

18    THIS    WORLD    TO    BE     LIGHTED    UP? 

BEFORE  1  proceed  further  to  trace  and  test  the  idea 
which  has  been  presented  as  the  formative  principle 
of  the  Apocalypse,  it  seems  to  me  proper  and,  in- 
deed, necessary,  to  stop  and  consider  what  kind  of  an 
idea  it  is.  We  should  not  be  warranted  in  spending 
our  time  in  pursuit  of  this  conception  unless  it  is  a 
conception  worthy  of  the  high  place  which  is  claimed 
for  it.  Is  it  worthy  of  that  place,  worthy  to  be  the 
subject  of  the  last  book  of  the  Bible  1  Can  It  be  pos- 
sible that  it  is  the  divine  intention  to  light  up  this 
cavern  of  a  world  until  it  is  as  bright  spiritually  as 
noonday  radiance  makes  it  physically  ?  Is  it  desirable 
to  do  that  ?  Is  it  necessary  ?  Is  it  feasible  ?  What 
kind  of  an  idea  is  this  which  the  glorious  vision  of 
"  one  like  unto  the  Son  of  man,"  as  the  centre  of  a 
spiritual  solar  system,  has  suggested  to  my  mind  as 
the  subject  of  this  wonderful  book  ? 

No  one  can  deny  the  grandeur  of  the  conception. 
If  any  fault  can  be  found  with  it,  it  is  that  it  seems 
too  grand  ever  to  be  realized.  In  some  other  world, 
perhaps  ;  in  the  world  of  the  angels ;  but  in  this 
world  ?  It  seems  far  too  much  to  believe.  One 
thinks  of  the  Egyptian  darkness  which  has  rested  upon 
the  human  mind  from  the  beginning  ;  of  the  Stygian 
ignorances  which  yet  exist  in  wide  territories  of  every 


IS  THIS   WOULD  TO    BE   LIGHTED   UP?  29 

continent,  and  asks  himself,  Will  all  this  be  cleared 
away  and  displaced  by  a  world-wide  intelligence  and  a 
world- wide  information  ?  Will  every  man  on  the 
globe  at  length  know  enough  to  have  his  chance  of 
securing  his  highest  interests  for  time  and  for  eter- 
nity ?  Will  the  time  ever  come  when  some  Captain 
Cook  will  sail  round  the  globe  and  touch  at  no  far-off 
coast  or  remote  island,  where  correct  ideas  of  the  re- 
lations between  God  and  man  and  between  man  and 
man  are  not  entertained  ?  Would  that  it  might  be  ! 
What  well-wisher  of  his  race,  what  lover  of  this  fair 

planet, 

"  Where  every  prospect  pleases, 
And  only  man  is  vile," 

but  would  be  delighted  to  have  it  so  ?  What  a  triumph 
of  Christianity  and  of  civilization  that  would  be  ! 
What  an  honor  to  Christ  it  would  be  !  How  the  bells 
of  eternity  would  ring  at  such  a  consummation  !  How 
heaven  would  rejoice  !  If  we  reject  the  idea  it  is  not 
because  it  is  not  unspeakably  glorious,  but  because 
we  think  so  much  glory  cannot  possibly  be. 

But  what  is  the  genesis  of  this  idea  ?  Where  did  it 
come  from  ?  Is  it  a  phantasy  of  my  brain,  or  of  some 
other  brain  as  disordered  as  my  own  ?  Is  it  a  meteoric 
intruder  into  our  realm  of  rational  and  orderly  thought 
from  some  region  of  intellectual  vagaries  ?  Or  is  it  a 
common  and  familiar  idea  of  the  Word  of  God,  and 
do  we  think  it  because  God  has  thought  it  before  us  ? 
What  did  Daniel  say  ?  "  Many  shall  run  to  and  fro, 
and  knowledge  shall  be  increased. "  What  did  Habak- 
kuk  say  ?  "  For  the  earth  shall  be  filled  with  the 
knowledge  of  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  as  the  waters 


30  THE   WORLD    LIGHTED. 

cover  the  sea."  It  is  not,  then,  my  idea,  or  anybody's, 
but  God's.  It  is  His  idea  of  what  it  would  be  well 
to  do,  of  what  He  would  like  to  do  ;  yes,  and  of  what 
He  means  to  do.  If  He  said  it  in  Habakkuk,  it  is 
not  unlikely  that  He  has  said  it  in  Revelation. 

There  may  be  those  who  have  thought  that  Christi- 
anity is  yet  to  be  universal,  who  have  not  quite  realized 
that  for  this  purpose  the  general  enlightenment  of 
mankind  is  indispensable.  The  empire  of  Satan  is  for- 
tified by  ignorance,  and  to  pull  down  his  empire  you 
must  first  pull  down  his  fortifications.  The  blank 
ignorances,  the  stolid  thoughtlessness,  the  stupid  super- 
stitions, the  foolish  prejudices,  the  silly  trusts,  the 
groundless  fears,  the  misunderstandings,  misconcep- 
tions, misrepresentations,  falsehoods,  deceits,  imposi- 
tions— how  large  a  part  these  have  in  holding  the 
human  race  in  slavery  to  the  great  despot  !  Sin 
skulks  always  behind  a  lie  ;  evil  lives  in  the  shadow 
of  a  falsehood  ;  make  the  lie  impossible  of  credence 
and  the  evil  would  disappear.  If  the  world  is  ever  to 
be  Christianized  it  must  be  enlightened.  Ignorance, 
instead  of  being  the  "  mother  of  devotion,"  is  the 
mother  of  superstition.  There  is  absolutely  no  way 
to  give  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  to  the  Son  for 
his  possession  except  by  the  method  of  Habakkuk. 
The  knowledge  of  the  Lord  must  fill  the  earth,  as  the 
waters  cover  the  sea.  Everywhere  men  must  know 
too  much  to  trust  in  fetish,  or  idol,  or  priest,  or  good 
works,  or  anything  but  their  Saviour.  Perceiving 
this  necessity,  and  knowing  how  dark  the  world  was 
in  the  first  century— nay,  how  dark  it  is  even  now,  we 
shall  not  think  it  strange  that  the  last  word  of  Inspi- 


IS   THIS   WOULD   TO    BE    LIGHTED    UP?  31 

ration  is  a  majestic  prophecy,  showing  how  God  will 
light  up  the  globe. 

But  is  it  feasible  ?  Can  it  be  done  ?  It  is  a  ques- 
tion of  light  and  light-bearers.  We  cannot  tell  by 
looking  at  the  darkness.  Darkness  looks  more  in- 
vincible than  it  really  is.  Bring  in  the  lights,  and 
darkness  flees  discomfited  before  them.  To  think 
only  of  the  persistence  of  error,  of  the  obstinacy  of 
prejudice,  of  the  many  lives  of  which  a  lie  seems  pos- 
sessed, so  that  to  kill  it  once  and  again  is  only  to  see 
it  start  up  in  a  new  place  or  a  new  form  ;  to  think 
how  many  people  the  wide  world  through  count  it 
their  interest  to  keep  the  falsehoods  alive  and  the 
twiths  out  of  sight  ;  to  think  how  long  the  present 
degree  of  enlightenment  has  been  in  coming,  is  to  be 
discouraged  and  hopeless.  But  still  if  we  could  but 
have  light  enough  we  should  be  able  to  light  up  the 
whole  dark  world.  Have  we  light  enough  ?  Has 
God  Himself  light  enough  to  banish  the  spiritual 
darkness  of  our  planet  ?  The  answer  is  upon  the  very 
title-page  of  the  Apocalypse.  That  is  what  its  first 
vision  seems  to  mean.  Seven  candlesticks  ;  seven 
stars  ;  the  sun — is  it  not  enough  ?  We  have  only  to 
consider  the  light-bearers  at  our  disposal  to  be  assured 
that  the  task  can  be  accomplished. 

Finst,  let  us  consider  the  ultimate  significance  of 
the  fact  that  there  are  in  the  world  institutions  which 
Inspiration  has  thought  worthy  to  symbolize  by  the 
term  "  candlesticks,"  or,  as  it  might  better  be  trans- 
lated, lamp-stands.  The  original  of  the  figure  is,  of 
course,  the  seven-branched  candlestick,  or  light- 
holder,  of  the  tabernacle.  This  was  a  type  of  the 


33  THE    WORLD   LIGHTED. 

light-giving  quality  of  the  modern  Church — that  is, 
its  teaching  power,  its  ability  to  instruct  and  educate 
mankind.  The  seven  golden  candlesticks  represent 
the  Church  as  God  sees  it,  in  its  knowledge  of  the 
truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  and  its  adaptation  to  the  task  of 
communicating  that  knowledge  to  others.  The  sym- 
bol ought  to  raise  our  idea  of  the  prophetic  capacity 
of  the  Church,  as  well  as  instruct  us  as  to  what  is  to 
be  considered  the  true  Church  of  God  in  the  world. 
It  is  the  Church  which  knows  the  most  about  true  re- 
ligion, and  can  shine  the  most  brightly  on  the  religious 
darkness  of  men,  rather  than  the  Church  which  is 
most  punctilious  about  ceremonials,  and  arrogates  to 
itself  the  most  authority.  Of  this  Church,  in  its 
adaptation  to  illuminate  the  moral  darkness  of  earth, 
the  divine  estimate  is  very  high.  God  feels  the  same 
confidence  in  His  ability  to  light  up  the  world  by  its 
means  that  a  man  feels  who  "  lights  a  candle"  and 
setteth  it  "  on  a  candlestick,"  that  it  will  give  "  light 
unto  all  that  are  in  the  house."  In  this  confidence 
Jesus  said,  even  to  the  little  company  of  disciples 
which  stood  about  Him,  "  Ye  are  the  light  of  the 
world"  With  a  like  confidence  Paul  said  to  the 
Philippian  Christians,  "  Ye  shine  as  lights  in  the 
world."  The  vision  of  the  first  chapter  of  the  Apoc- 
alypse is  designed  to  restore  and  maintain  the  confi- 
dence of  the  churches  in  the  utility  of  their  light- 
bearing  function  through  all  time. 

Seven  golden  candlesticks  means  as  many,  the  whole 
number  that  God  chooses  to  use  for  the  purpose. 
Each  candlestick  has  seven  branches — that  is,  the 
whole  number  necessary  to  make  it  a  complete  lamp 


IS   THIS   WORLD   TO   BE   LIGHTED   UP  ?  33 

to  light  up  the  place  where  it  is  set.  The  churches 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  the  world  are  so  many 
candelabra.  Every  true  member  is  a  burner,  so  that 
we  have  just  as  many  lights  as  we  have  truly  con- 
verted souls.  The  candelabra  with  which  God  pro- 
poses to  light  up  this  dark  world  are  churches  of  intel- 
ligent Christians.  Not  devotees  of  a  corrupt  system, 
whose  policy  is  to  keep  the  people  ignorant  in  order 
better  to  render  them  manageable  by  the  priesthood. 
Not  languid  professors  of  religion,  too  indifferent  to 
what  is  in  the  Bible  to  care  to  know  any  more  of  it 
than  that  they  may  feel  assured  of  their  own  salva- 
tion ;  but  men,  and  women,  and  children  who  know 
the  truth,  whose  minds  are  full  of  light,  and  who  do 
not  hide  that  light — these  are  the  candlesticks.  Peo- 
ple who  know  the  difference  between  truth  and  error, 
who  have  risen  above  old  prejudices  and  ancient 
superstitions,  whose  minds  are  luminous  with  the 
great  ideas  of  the  Gospel,  in  whom  the  Bible  is  the 
holy  oil  which  keeps  the  flame  of  love  and  zeal  burn- 
ing, and  which  makes  the  sphere  of  their  influence 
too  bright  a  region  for  any  foolish  error  or  dark  sin  to 
be  able  to  hide  in — these  are  the  lamps  by  means  of 
which  God  proposes  to  illuminate  the  earth.  As  we 
look  at  them  and  remember  how  many  there  are  of 
them,  how  many  more  than  when  this  vision  was  be- 
held by  John  in  Patmos,  and  how  much  of  earth  is 
now  light  which  was  dark  then,  I  am  surer  our  confi- 
dence must  grow  that  the  whole  of  what  the  vision 
promised  is  really  to  come  to  pass. 

Mr.  Moody  gives  an  incident  from  his  early  experi- 
ence which  is  exceedingly  suggestive  and  encouraging. 


34  THE   WOULD    LIGHTED. 

In  his  Gospel  fishing  he  had  accepted  an  invitation 
from  a  saloon-keeper  to  hold  a  meeting  in  his  saloon, 
on  the  hard  condition  of  allowing  forty-five  minutes 
to  the  adversaries  of  Christianity,  and  then  taking  but 
fifteen  minutes  himself.  He  commenced  with  a 
prayer,  at  the  close  of  which  he  was  taunted  with  the 
fact  that  the  Bible  required  that  two  should  be. 
"  agreed  "  in  praying,  for  prayer  to  be  answered. 
But  now  there  knelt  at  Moody's  side  a  little  lad,  a 
child  who  had  been  converted  in  the  mission  school. 
As  his  childish  voice  rose  upon  the  air  it  attracted 
close  attention.  As  he  pleaded  with  the  Lord  for 
these  wicked  men,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  might  show 
them  their  error,  a  great  solemnity  came  upon  those 
hard-hearted  infidels  and  scoffers,  find  some  of  them 
were  moved  to  tears.  A  sudden  panic  cleared  the 
room  of  all  but  the  serious,  and  the  saloon-keeper's 
children  were  captured  for  the  Sunday-school,  while 
their  father  was  soon  begging  Christians  to  pray  for 
his  miserable  soul.  Could  we  have  a  more  forcible 
illustration  of  the  enlightenment  possible  through  one 
of  the  youngest  and  least  of  God's  children  ?  One  is 
reminded  of  Shakespeare's  famous  line, 

"  How  far  that  little  candle  sends  its  beams  !" 

If  only  a  little  child,  properly  taught  and  under  the 
influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  can  shine  like  that,  what 
will  be  the  result  when  Sunday-schools,  and  parental 
training,  and  Gospel  preaching,  and  the  wide  distri- 
bution of  Bible  knowledge  have  lit  up  all  the  golden 
candlesticks  of  all  the  churches  ? 

And  then  there  are  the  stars — that  is  to  say,  the 


IS   THIS    WOULD    TO    BE    LIGHTED    UP?  35 

brighter  lights  of  the  churches,  distinguishable  from 
the  churches  as  stars  of  the  first  magnitude  are  dis- 
tinguishable from  the  Milky  Way,  and  as  "  one  star 
differeth  from  another  star  in  glory."  Great  per- 
plexity has  arisen  from  the  term  "  angels,"  by  which 
the  stars  are  defined  ;  needlessly,  it  would  seem,  if  it 
had  only  been  kept  in  mind  that  this  term  belongs  to 
the  ideal  side  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  the  same  side 
to  which  the  term  "candlestick"  belongs.  If  the 
commonplace-looking  company  of  men  and  women 
which  we  call  a  church,  when  considered  with  refer- 
ence to  its  possession  of  divine  truth,  and  its  capacity 
for  imparting  that  truth,  deserves  to  be  regarded  as  a 
n^nificent  spiritual  candelabrum,  then  perhaps  a 
man  who  is  the  pastor  or  teacher  of  this  church  may 
properly  be  called  an  angel. 

We  shall  not  make  a  serious  mistake,  I  am  sure,  if 
we  decide  to  regard  the  pastor  of  each  church  as  the 
angel  of  the  vision.  The  pastor  is  the  chief  teacher 
of  the  church,  the  elder  who  is  to  be  counted  worthy 
of  double  honor  because,  in  addition  to  his  ruling,  he 
"  labors  in  the  word  and  doctrine."  It  is  not  strange 
that  in  the  celestial  view  of  such  an  officer  he  should 
be  regarded  as  an  angel.  What  are  the  angels  but 
"ministering  spirits  sent  forth  to  minister  for  them 
who  shall  be  heirs  of  salvation"  ?  These,  too,  are 
ministers,  commonly  designated  as  such  according  to 
our  Lord's  own  instruction,  "  Whosoever  will  be 
great  among  you,  let  him  be  your  minister"  I  There 
really  is  no  such  mystery  about  a  minister  of  the  Gos- 
pel's being  called  an  angel  as  is  implied  by  the  discus- 
sions of  the  passage.  The  minister  is,  on  earth,  what 


3G  TIIE    WOULD    LIGHTED. 

an  angel  is  in  heaven.  His  work  and  his  spirit  are 
essentially  the  same,  as  Doddridge  thought  when  he 
wrote  the  hymn  which  contains  the  verse, 

"  Tis  not  a  cause  of  small  import 

The  pastor's  care  demands  ; 
But  what  might  fill  an  angel?  s  heart, 
And  filled  a  Saviour's  hands." 

But  it  seems  to  me  that,  with  the  pastor,  we  may 
place  among  the  "  stars"  of  the  churches  all  who  take 
a  prominent  part  in  guiding  their  thought  and  mould- 
ing their  doctrines,  all  who  are  pre-eminent  in  the  use 
of  the  truth  as  an  instrument  for  the  conversion  of 
sinners  and  the  building  up  of  saints.  There  is 
really  no  sufficient  line  of  demarcation  which  can  be 
drawn  between  ministers  and  teachers  who  are  pastors 
of  churches  and  those  who  are  evangelists,  editors  of 
religious  newspapers,  authors  of  good  books,  professors 
in  Christian  colleges  and  theological  seminaries,  and  all 
the  rest  of  that  numerous  class.  Of  all  these  alike  it 
may  be  expected  that,  being  "  wise,"  they  shall  "  shine 
as  the  brightness  of  the  firmament,"  and  having 
"  turned  many  to  righteousness,"  they  shall  shine  "  as 
the  stars  forever  and  ever."  Surely  all  these  deserve 
to  be  called  stars.  And  being  such,  they  share  with 
the  pastor  that  weight  of  responsibility  which  is  laid 
upon  each  of  the  angels  to  the  seven  churches,  when 
he  is  held  so  largely  accountable  for  the  spiritual  con- 
dition of  his  church.  That  condition  depends  in  great 
measure  upon  the  spiritual  food  supplied  to  the  Church 
by  its  religious  guides,  and  in  this  feeding  of  the  sheep 
all  who  occupy  the  office  of  a  teacher  in  any  way 
share.  There  is,  then,  no  reason  for  appropriating 


IS   THIS   WOULD   TO    BE   LIGHTED    UP?  37 

the  term  "angel"  or  that  of  "star"  to  the  pastor 
alone  ;  there  is  every  reason  for  applying  both  terms 
to  all  whose  Christian  light  is  specially  distinguishable 
from  that  of  the  mass  of  disciples. 

So  interpreted,  what  a  perfect  constellation — nay, 
what  constellations  and  galaxies  of  spiritual  stars  blaze 
upon  us  from  out  this  splendid  vision  ! — as  innumer- 
able as  those  to  which  God  pointed  when  He  desired 
to  strengthen  the  faith  of  Abram  in  bis  future  seed. 
Thus  we  may  point,  in  confirmation  of  our  conviction 
that  God  means  to  light  up  the  world  with  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  Gospel.  Only  to  look  at  these  stars,  of 
every  magnitude  and  every  variety  of  color  and  of 
45eauty,  is  to~  gather  hope  and  assurance  regarding  the 
grand  result  of  their  shining.  Think  how  many  more 
of  them  there  are  than  there  used  to  be,  and  how 
much  more  brightly  they  shine  !  The  old  stars  still 
shine  on  with  undimned  brilliancy  ;  Origen,  and 
Jerome,  and  Chrysostom,  and  Augustine,  and  Luther, 
and  Calvin,  and  the  rest  of  the  worthies  whom  time 
fails  to  tell  of  ;  not  one  star  has  fallen  nor  one  beam 
been  quenched.  Then  think  of  those  which  have 
been  added  in  our  own  generation,  whose  lustre  ap- 
pears greater,  in  some  respects,  than  that  of  former 
servants  of  God.  When  before  was  there  over  a 
star  like  Spurgeon,  with  his  great  church  and  preacher's 
college,  and  power  to  reach  the  world  through  the 
press  ?  Think  of  Moody,  the  man  who  went  to  Eng- 
land for  ten  thousand  souls,  and  got  them  as  the  seals 
of  his  ministry  !  Think  of  the  churches  and  schools 
which  he  has  been  the  means  of  establishing  !  Is 
there  an  influence  upon  earth  more  royally  wide  than 


38  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

his  ?  If  we  stop  here  with  the  mention  of  particular 
persons,  it  is  only  because  the  number  of  persons  who 
might  be  mentioned,  on  account  of  their  widespread 
religious  influence,  is  so  great  as  to  seem  innumerable. 
How  many  stars  there  are  !  And  shall  the  Church 
that  possesses  them,  and  is  destined  to  possess  them 
in  ever-increasing  numbers,  despair  of  ever  fully  illu- 
minating the  dark  places  of  the  world  ?  On  the  con- 
trary, the  Church  must  continually  increase  in  confi- 
dence that  this  mighty  undertaking  is  to  be  thor- 
oughly accomplished,  as  it  beholds  with  joy  the  very 
agents  by  which  the  work  is  to  be  done. 

And  yet  we  have  said  nothing  about  the  Sun ! 
Probability  has  increased  almost  to  certainty,  and  yet 
the  great  luminary  of  the  Church  remains  to  be  con- 
sidered. What  are  stars  compared  with  the  sun,  the 
great,  glorious,  almighty  sun,  "  which  rejoiceth  as  a 
strong  man  to  run  its  race"  ?  How  the  beam  of  even 
Sirius  pales  before  the  first  and  faintest  flashes  of  the 
king  of  day  !  And  the  Church  has  not  only  seven 
golden  candlesticks,  not  only  seven  stars  ;  it  has  also 
the  Sun  of  the  spiritual  world  to  shed  its  invincible 
brilliancy  upon  the  darkness  of  this.  Can  there  be 
any  doubt  of  the  result  ?  When  the  Sun  of  right- 
eousness arises  with  healing  in  His  wings,  what  dark- 
ness of  man  or  demon  can  stand  before  him  ?  Behold 
a  demonstration  !  The  vision  which  John  saw  in 
Patmos  is  the  pledge  of  the  complete  enlightenment 
of  the  human  race. 

The  sun  of  this  vision  is  to  be  considered  together 
with  the  statement  of  Jesus  Himself  in  the  epilogue 
of  the  book,  that  He  is  "  the  bright  and  morning 


IS   THIS    \VOItLI)   TO    BE    LIGHTED    UP?  39 

star."  At  the  date  of  the  giving  of  this  prophecy 
Jesus  could  still  call  Himself  by  that  appellation.  He 
Himself  regarded  His  first  advent — nay,  the  first  hun- 
dred years  of  the  Christian  era,  only  as  the  faint  morn- 
ing star  which  heralded  His  dispensation.  And  yet 
in  the  first  vision  of  the  Apocalypse  He  shows  Him- 
self as  the  great  spiritual  Sun  of  the  universe.  What 
is  this  but  the  promise  of  increase  of  light,  until  what 
the  world  enjoys  becomes  as  much  more  than  the  first 
century  saw  as  the  noonday  sun  exceeds  the  morning 
star  ?  The  sun  is  not  always  to  appear  only  a  star. 
It  is  destined  to  come  nearer  and  become  brighter, 
uutil  what  seemed,  in  its  far  distance,  only  a  tiny 
point  of  light,  has  become  a  blazing  orb,  from  whose 
intense  heat  and  light  nothing  can  be  hid.  The  sec- 
ond advent  will  be  to  the  first  advent  what  a  tropical 
noon  is  to  the  faint  dawn  which  has  just  begun  to 
drive  the  darkness  before  it.  The  history  of  Christi- 
anity, like  "the  path  of  the  just,"  is  "as  a  shining 
light,  which  shineth  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect 
day." 

Why,  every  morning  that  dawns  upon  the  world  is 
a  prophecy  of  the  ultimate  victory  of  truth  and  knowl- 
edge over  ignorance  and  error.  Not  more  powerful 
surely  is  the  natural  sun  to  banish  all  the  darkness  of 
the  night  than  Jesus  Christ,  the  spiritual  Sun,  the 
infinite,  omniscient  God,  to  overcome  the  moral 
darkness  of  our  race.  This  is  the  God  who  is 
"light,"  infinite  light,  and  "in  Him  is  no  darkness 
at  all. "  Will  the  dark  places  be  able  to  remain  dark  ? 
Will  the  shadows  and  the  gloom  be  able  to  lurk  in  the 
hollows  of  the  earth,  when  the  infinite  Sun  takes  His 


40  THE    AVORLD    LIGHTED. 

place  in  the  zenith  of  the  human  mind  ?  No,  no  ;  it 
is  impossible.  This  dark  earth  is  to  be  lit  up  until  it 
is  all  bright  with  Christian  knowledge. 

Every  country  road  at  the  autumnal  season  predicts 
it.  1  never  see  the  mullein  stalks,  with  their  tips  of 
yellow  bloom,  but  I  think  of  a  lighted  candle.  The 
mulleins  stand  all  along  the  wayside,  and  the  golden- 
rods  all  aflame,  to  tell  how  God  will  yet  light  up  the 
world  with  His  seven  golden  candlesticks.  The  prog- 
ress of  artificial  illumination  is  a  token  of  the  same 
kind.  The  streets  of  towns  and  cities  which  were 
once  dangerously  dark  at  night  are  now  delightfully 
irradiated  with  the  moonlight  of  electricity.  What 
does  it  all  mean,  but  that  moral  and  spiritual  darkness 
is  to  be  driven  away  by  the  light  of  revealed  truth 
and  Christian  knowledge  ?  "  The  night  is  far  spent  ; 
the  day  is  at  hand."  "Weeping  may  endure  fora 
night,  but  joy  cometh  in  the  morning."  When  the 
morning  comes  it  will  be  a  great  satisfaction  to  be  able 
to  feel  that  we  helped  to  bring  it  forward. 


IV. 

THE    EPISTLES    TO   THE    SEVEN    CIICKCIIES. 

IF  we  have  really  found  the  missing  key,  and  cor- 
rectly conceived  the  purpose  of  the  Apocalypse,  the 
great  prophecy  which  it  contains  is  that  this  dark 
world  of  ours  is  to  be  lighted  up  with  truth,  until  all 
error  shall  have  been  dispelled  and  sin  shall  have  been 
rendered  impossible.  We  are  now  to  see  whether  the 
fir*trsection  of  the  book,  containing  the  epistles  to  the 
seven  churches,  can  be  harmonized  with  this  idea,  and 
get  a  rational  interpretation  from  it. 

What  could  be  more  natural,  or  indeed  more  neces- 
sary, at  this  point,  than  a  divine  assurance  that  the 
extraordinary  plan  already  announced  has  been  con- 
ceived and  is  entertained  in  entire  soberness  of  spirit, 
and  with  a  clear  perception  of  all  the  discouraging 
facts  in  the  actual  situation  ?  The  world  to  be  lighted 
up  with  truth  ?  All  minds  to  be  imbued  with  knowl- 
edge ?  The  superstitions,  and  mistakes,  and  decep- 
tions of  the  entire  human  race  to  be  banished  forever 
from  the  earth  by  the  universal  prevalence  of  Chris- 
tian ideas  ?  The  thought  is  yet  overwhelming  !  The 
possibility  seems  in  the  highest  degree  improbable. 
Such  a  state  of  things  appears  the  most  impossible  of 
dreams.  After  eighteen  hundred  years  of  Christian 
progress  human  ignorance  is  still  so  dense,  and  error 
so  firmly  intrenched  in  the  minds  of  men,  that  any- 


42  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

thing  like  general  enlightenment  seems  indefinitely 
far  away.  Is  it  possible  that  the  Bible  actually  pledges 
itself  to  such  a  revolution  ?  Can  it  be  that  Inspiration 
authorizes  us  to  expect  such  an  immense  and  glorious 
reversal  of  the  present  situation  ? 

Yes,  it  is  there  in  the  introduction  of  this  last  book 
of  the  Bible.  This  is  the  last  word  of  comfort  which 
Inspiration  has  to  utter,  and  it  is,  indeed,  a  great 
word.  Be  not  appalled  at  the  thought  of  the  deep 
darkness  which  enshrouds  the  human  mind  !  Do  not 
despond  because  the  world  can  never  be  truly  and 
generally  Christian  until  it  is  generally  enlightened  ! 
It  is  to  be  enlightened  ;  God  has  decreed  it  ;  He  has 
not  only  decreed  it,  but  He  has  already  provided  the 
means  by  which  the  illumination  is  to  be  effected. 
Behold  the  lamps  which  are  to  light  up  the  dark 
places  !  Seven  candlesticks,  seven  stars,  the  Sun  ! 
So  much  we  learn  from  the  first  chapter  of  the  Apoc- 
alypse. 

But  it  is  as  if  we  had  entered  an  aerial  ship  and 
been  lifted  to  an  altitude  which  makes  us  dizzy. 
What  more  natural  than  alarm  at  such  an  experi- 
ence ?  Can  we  trust  our  pilot  ?  Does  he  know,  what 
he  is  about  ?  Is  Inspiration  here  as  elsewhere  the 
same  wise  and  steady  guide  ?  Are  these  magnificent 
ideas,  is  this  sublime  and  glorious  conception  of  the 
world's  future,  framed  in  sober  knowledge  of  present 
discouraging  facts,  and  all  the  tremendous  difficulties 
which  such  a  plan  must  meet  with  ?  The  sun  ?  Yes, 
the  sun  is  infinite  in  its  resources,  and  the  stars  seem 
comparatively  unlimited  in  their  power  to  shine  ;  but 
what  about  the  candlesticks  ?  Does  the  Author  of 


THE   EPISTLES  TO   THE   SEVEX   CHURCHES.  43 

tin's  plan  expect  mncli  from  them  ?  Does  He  under- 
stand the  feebleness  of  these  light-bearers  ?  Let  us 
have,  before  we  proceed  further  in  this  alarming  voy- 
age, something  to  steady  our  mental  nerves  and  assure 
us  of  sober  and  safe  guidance  ! 

Accordingly  just  at  this  point,  before  we  are  car- 
ried still  higher  into  the  symbolic  glories  of  the 
heavenly  state,  the  divine  Inspirer  of  this  wonderful 
book  pauses  to  give  us  the  desired  assurance.  Part- 
ing the  curtains  of  our  chariot  of  fire  He  points  down- 
ward to  the  earth,  and  bids  us  perceive  that  He  has 
made  no  mistake  as  to  the  actual  situation.  Look, 
lie  gajs  ;  yonder  is  the  world,  just  as  it  is,  in  all  its 
ignorance,  folly,  and  sin.  I  do  not  overlook  a  single 
impediment  to  this  proposed  transformation.  There 
are  the  seven  churches.  I  see  them  just  as  they  are. 
All  their  imperfections  are  entirely  plain  to  My  mind. 
I  know  just  what  they  are  and  what  can  be  done  with 
them.  Reassure  yourselves  as  to  My  perfect  compre- 
hension of  all  the  elements  of  this  problem,  and  trust 
Me,  in  all  the  surprising  revelations  that  I  shall  give 
you,  to  speak  always  without  extravagance  and  with- 
out misconception  ! 

The  epistles  to  the  seven  churches  are  precisely  such 
a  combination  of  the  exalted  imagery  which  tills  the 
book  with  the  prosaic  language  of  common  sense  and 
practical  knowledge,  as  to  produce  the  calming  and 
reassuring  effect  which  I  have  described.  •  The  sym- 
bolism is  not  dropped,  cr  rather  it  is  dropped,  but 
only  for  a  moment  at  a  time.  Each  epistle  begins 
and  closes  with  something  of  the  same  splendid  imagery 
to  which  we  have  been  introduced  in  the  first  chapter. 


44  THE   WORLD    LIGHTED. 

We  are  not  permitted  to  forget  that  our  chariot  is  a 
celestial  one,  or  to  get  out  of  it.  The  vision  of  the 
Son  of  man,  with  His  face  like  the  sun,  holding  the 
seven  stars  in  His  right  hand  and  surrounded  by  the 
seven  golden  candlesticks,  continues  before  our  eyes. 
But  we  are  permitted  to  look  down  from  the  chariot 
upon  the  earth  below,  while  our  conductor  describes 
the  scene.  We  recognize  the  entire  correctness  of 
his  description,  and  see  that  he  has  not  omitted  one 
shadow  or  exaggerated  or  misrepresented  one  un- 
important particular. 

In  the  epistles  to  the  seven  churches,  their  ideal 
character,  as  candlesticks,  to  illuminate  the  world's 
darkness,  is  suggested  in  each  introduction  and  im- 
plied in  each  conclusion.  A  striking  part  of  this  ideal 
representation  is  the  calling  the  pastor  or  teacher  of 
each  church  by  the  celestial  title  of  angel.  As  a 
golden  candlestick  the  church  is  seen  associated  with 
the  great  spiritual  Sun  and  with  the  angelic  stars  ; 
that  is  the  ideal  side  of  the  representation. 

But  between  the  introduction  and  the  conclusion  of 
each  epistle  is  a  plain,  unvarnished  statement  of  the 
actual  spiritual  condition  of  the  church  addressed. 
These  statements  are  so  clear-sighted  in  their  percep- 
tion of  faults  and  evils,  so  true  to  what  we  know  of 
actual  church  life,  that  we  recognize  their  truthful- 
ness to  facts  even  the  most  discouraging.  We  per- 
ceive that,  however  splendid  these  representative 
churches  are  in  their  ideal  character,  in  their  real 
character  they  are  thorougldy  understood. 

At  the  beginning  of  each  address  the  divine  Corre- 
spondent says,  "  /  know. ' '  And  what  does  He  know  ? 


THE    EPISTLES   TO   THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES.  43 

That  Ephesns  has  cooled  in  its  affection  ;  that  Smyrna 
is  poor  ;  that  Pergamos  is  hard  by  the  throne  of  Satan  ; 
that  Thyatira  is  heretical ;  that  Sardis  is  dead ;  that 
Philadelphia  is  opposed  by  Satan's  synagogue,  and 
that  Laodicea  is  lukewarm.  Surely  this  is  no  extrava- 
gant estimate  of  the  Church  and  its  attainments. 
These  calm  and  even  sad  admissions  of  the  faults  and 
errors  of  the  early  churches  may  at  once  and  finally 
deliver  us  from  the  fear  that  the  promises  and  predic- 
tions of  the  Apocalypse,  extraordinary  as  they  are, 
are  founded  in  any  weak  partiality  to  the  churches  or 
blindness  to  their  deficiencies.  The  rapt  vision  of  our 
prophetic  guide  sees  the  facts  of  earth  in  all  their  re- 
pufeTveness  and  all  their  difficulty.  He  knows  just 
how  dark  the  darkness  is  which  He  proposes  to  re- 
move, and  lie  is  quite  aware  how  much  of  that  dark- 
ness yet  abides  in  the  very  lamps  which  He  proposes 
to  use. 

Nevertheless  He  does  not  despond.  In  full  sight  of 
all  the  difficulties,  He  does  not  abate  one  jot  of  His  con- 
fidence that  the  desired  result  is  to  be  attained.  This 
is  the  fact  that  encourages  us  and  raises  our  hopes  to 
the  height  necessary  to  the  full  enjoyment  of  the 
prophecy.  Our  Lord  sees  the  great  and  alarming 
faults  of  the  churches,  and  yet  He  does  not  despair  of 
them.  He  even  contemplates  the  possibility  that 
some  may  lose  all  power  to  give  light,  and  cease  to  be 
candlesticks  at  all.  Yet  He  does  not  give  up  His 
plan  to  light  up  the  world,  and  expects  to  have  candle- 
sticks enough  to  accomplish  His  purpose. 

Meanwhile,  in  these  same  epistles  our  Lord  pro- 
ceeds to  trim  His  lamps.  If  one  examine  the  seven 


4G  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

letters  critically,  as  to  what  is  the  chief  burden  of 
their  teachings,  he  will  acknowledge  that  they  relate 
principally  to  purity  of  doctrine  and  faithfulness  in 
testimony.  How  did  the  Master  expect  these  churches 
to  accomplish  their  mission  ?  How  were  they  to  let 
their  light  shine  ?  First,  and  chiefly,  by  carefulness 
regarding  the  correctness  of  the  doctrine  held  and 
taught  by  them.  Ephesus  is  commended  for  having 
successfully  endured  a  trial  of  its  orthodoxy  ;  Smyrna, 
for  resisting  the  blasphemies  of  a  false  Judaism  ;  Per- 
gamos,  for  not  having  denied  the  faith  ;  Philadelphia, 
for  keeping  Christ's  Word.  Blame  is  visited  upon 
Pergamos  and  Thyatira  for  holding  false  doctrine  and 
suffering  it  to  be  taught.  Sardis  is  admonished  to  re- 
member how  it  has  received  and  heard,  and  to  hold 
fast  and  repent.  The  reader  must  be  left  to  make 
his  own  examination  in  order  to  see  how  largely  the 
correctness  of  the  creeds  of  these  churches  is  the  bur- 
den of  the  epistles  to  them.  It  is  exactly  what  it 
should  be  if  these  letters  were  designed  to  stimulate 
the  churches  to  efficiency  as  the  light-bearers  of  the 
world,  and  if  the  first  conditipn  of  that  efficiency  be 
correct  Gospel  ideas. 

In  this  age,  when  so  much  is  said  of  the  unimpor- 
tance of  theology  as  compared  with  religion,  it  will  do 
us  good  to  recur  to  the  epistles  to  the  seven  churches. 
These  are  the  last  recorded  communications  of  our  as- 
cended Lord  to  His  people  upon  earth.  "What  does 
He  say  to  them  ?  What  does  He  urge  upon  them  as 
of  the  most  vital  importance  ?  Does  He  say,  Be  ac- 
tive and  enterprising,  be  consistent  and  holy,  be  in- 
ventive and  aggressive  in  capturing  the  world  for  Me  " 


THE    EPISTLES    TO   THE    SEVEN    CHUIICIIES.  47 

No,  there  is  not  much  about  these  matters  in  these 
epistles.  They  are  essential,  no  doubt,  and  elsewhere 
the  Master  has  instructed  us  regarding  them.  But  in 
these  final  communications  His  admonition  is,  Be 
wise  !  Know  the  truth  !  Understand  the  great  Gos- 
pel ideas  !  For  if  we  know  the  truth,  and  hold  it 
without  prejudice  or  misconception,  that  truth  will 
make  us  free  from  all  bondage  to  sin  ;  it  will  create 
in  us  everything  that  is  good,  and  cause  us  to  light  up 
our  corner  of  the  earth  so  brightly  that  no  badness 
can  continue  to  dwell  there.  Everything  else  depends 
upon  the  possession  of  "  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus." 

There  is  perhaps  no  portion  of  the  Word  of  God 
•whipkmust  bca_r  a  severer  criticism  than  these  same 
epistles.  Their  claims  are  such  as  can  be  sustained 
only  by  the  loftiest  conceivable  character  ;  for  they 
assume  to  be  the  epistles  not  of  Paul,  or  Peter,  or 
John,  but  of  Jesus  Christ  Himself,  and  of  Him  not 
in  His  state  of  earthly  humiliation,  but  in  that  of  His 
heavenly  glory. 

If  the  Apocalypse  were  regarded  as  a  fiction,  how 
hard  it  would  have  been  to  have  invented  this  portion 
of  it  !  The  medium  who  pretends  to  have  received  a 
communication  from  some  departed  statesman,  gen- 
erally perpetrates  some  solecism  which  stamps  the 
production  as  a  forgery.  How  hard  it  is  to  produce 
a  letter  from  the  other  world  worthy  to  be  attributed 
to  Webster,  or  Lincoln,  or  Washington  !  But  these 
epistles  claim  to  be  dictated  by  the  glorified  Saviour. 
The  utmost  pains  is  taken  to  heighten  our  sense  of  the 
grandeur  of  their  origin.  They  are  from  the  great 
Sun  of  the  spiritual  universe,  from  Him  who  holds 


43  THE    WOULD   LIGHTED. 

the  star-like  intelligences  in  His  right  hand,  from  the 
Author  of  the  Bible,  from  the  Sender  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  from  the  awful  I  Am,  who  is  the  same  yester- 
day, to-day,  and  forever.  It  is  the  highest  possible 
praise  to  be  able  to  say  that  these  epistles  seem  worthy 
of  their  origin.  They  approve  themselves  as  fit  to 
have  proceeded  from  the  glorified  Christ.  The  influ- 
ence of  their  worth  extends  beyond  themselves,  and 
sheds  confidence  upon  the  whole  of  the  strange  book 
in  which  they  are  found  imbedded.  From  the  value 
of  that  portion  of  which  we  are  so  much  more  capable 
of  judging  we  justly  infer  the  value  of  all  the  rest, 
even  while  it  remains  incomprehensible  to  us. 

The  son  of  John  Albert  Bengel,  the  author  of  the 
Gnomon  on  the  New  Testament,  has  added  a  note  to 
that  commentary  containing  his  honored  father's  trib- 
ute to  the  seven  epistles  when  near  his  end.  "  I  re- 
member," says  the  son,  "  that,  just  at  the  last  hours 
of  his  pilgrimage  (1752),  my  sainted  parent  earnestly 
commended  to  his  family  the  frequent  reading  and 
study  of  the  epistles  in  the  Apocalypse,  adding  as  the 
reason,  '  There  is  scarce  anything  that  can  press  to  the 
depths  of  one's  nature  with  such  purifying  power.'  ' 
Bengel  was  a  qualified  judge,  whose  opinion  is  of  the 
utmost  weight.  But  he  is  only  one  of  many  who 
have  felt  and  owned  the  purifying  power  of  these 
celestial  communications.  As  we  read  them  it  is  easy 
to  see  our  Saviour  in  the  very  act  of  trimming  the 
lamps  of  the  churches  that  they  may  shed  a  clearer 
light. 

The  demand  upon  these  seven  epistles  is  nothing 
less  than  that  they  should  be  such  as  to  serve  as  the 


THE    EPISTLES   TO   THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES.  49 

substantial  foundation  of  the  whole  series  of  sublime 
visions  which  make  up  the  Apocalypse.  These  visions 
rise,  like  Pelion  upon  Ossa,  in  continually  growing 
splendor  and  glory,  until  their  top  reaches  heaven,  and 
is  clothed  with  the  magnificence  of  eternity.  For 
such  a  prophetic  work  no  common  foundation  would 
have  sufficed.  It  must  be  broad  enough  and  firm 
enough  to  sustain  all  the  weight  of  the  immense  fabric 
resting  upon  it,  without  a  suspicion  of  a  tremor.  That 
is  precisely  what  these  epistles  are.  There  is  nothing 
in  the  subsequent  visions,  however  wonderful,  which 
is  not  implied  by  something  in  these.  All  that  is 
afterward  said  with  such  efflorescence  of  imagination 
i»*"warrarited  -  by  something  in  the  epistles.  Here, 
where  the  Lord  Christ  is  speaking  in  the  calm,  clear 
language  of  common  sense  and  every-day  life,  where, 
in  His  description  of  facts,  He  is  exact  and  even  pro- 
saic, He  yet  promises  all  and  foresees  all  that,  when 
afterward  expanded,  seems  so  extraordinary.  Here 
as  well  as  there  His  purpose  to  light  up  the  world  is 
calmly  asserted,  and  He  hesitates  not  to  anticipate  all 
the  sublime  consequences  of  that  great  act.  Here  as 
well  as  there  the  New  Jerusalem  is  seen  coming 
down  from  God  out  of  heaven  in  all  the  effulgence  of 
the  latter-day  glory.  Distinctly  perceiving  all  that  is 
lacking  in  His  Church,  perceiving  all  its  wrong  ten- 
dencies and  mistakes  and  sins,  He  yet  speaks  with  en- 
'tire  confidence  of  the  future.  What  more  could  we 
have  ?  There  is  a  great  task  before  the  Church  ;  to 
man  it  seems  impossible  to  illuminate  the  world  with 
truth  ;  but  having  talked  with  our  Lord  about  it  in 
these  lower  altitudes,  and  heard  Him  speak  with  such 


50  THE   WOULD   LIGHTED. 

divine  assurance  of  the  result  to  be  accomplished,  we 
may  now  fearlessly  ascend  into  the  upper  regions  of 
the  prophecy,  knowing  that  there,  as  here,  all  is  guar- 
anteed by  reality. 

In  that  grand  drama  to  which  the  apostle  now  in- 
troduces us,  where  the  surprises  of  human  invention 
are  so  outdone  by  the  inspired  imagination  as  to  seem 
tame  and  poor  ;  surrounded  by  beings  stranger  than 
eye  ever  saw,  and  by  falling  stars,  and  flying  angels, 
and  heavenly  thrones,  and  a  dissolving  and  recon- 
structed universe,  we  will  not  doubt  that  every  scene 
is  contrived  with  wisdom,  and  reveals  substantial  truth. 
We  will  echo  the  answer  of  the  child  who  was  asked 
if  he  would  fear  to  ride  in  a  chariot  like  "Elijah's  ? 
"  No,"  he  replied,  "not  if  God  drove."  The  epis- 
tles to  the  seven  churches  have  accomplished  their 
chief  purpose  when  they  have  satisfied  us  that  God 
Himself  is  to  be  our  guide  through  all  the  marvels 
and  prodigies  of  the  remainder  of  the  book  to  a  not 
doubtful  termination,  and  that  that  termination  is  to 
be  the  entire  conquest  of  the  error  of  earth  by  the 
almightiness  of  truth. 


V. 

HEAVEN  THE  SOURCE  OF  LIGHT. 

AND  now  farewell  to  fear,  farewell  to  earth  ;  up- 
ward and  onward  be  our  course  under  the  guidance  of 
our  celestial  Pilot,  until  our  eyes  behold  the  city  of 
God,  the  central  metropolis  of  the  universe.  For 
where  else  should  we  go  ?  The  question  whether 
earth  can  ever  be  lighted  up  with  heavenly  wisdom  de- 
pends upon  how  great  that  heavenly  wisdom  is.  If 
there  be  enough  of  it  earth  can  be  illuminated.  The 
first  question,  then,  to  have  answered,  is  the  old  ques- 
tion of  human  perplexity,  "  Is  there  knowledge  with 
the  Most  High  ?"  And  the  second  question  is,  How 
can  that  knowledge  be  communicated  to  men  ?  The 
first  act  of  the  prophetic  drama  is  devoted  to  answer- 
ing these  two  questions. 

How  natural  and  necessary  the  descriptions  which 
now  follow,  upon  the  theory  that  the  lighting  up  of 
the  world  with  truth  is  the  subject  of  the  Apocalypse  ! 
Having  announced  this  grand  subject  in  the  first 
chapter,  and  shown  in  the  second  and  third  chapters 
that  this  sublime  conception  is  entertained  in  sober 
acquaintance  with  all  that  might  be  said  against  it, 
the  proper  action  of  the  prophecy  now  begins  with  a 
vision  of  heaven.  When  we  have  seen  what  heaven 
is  we  shall  know  what  can  be  done  with  earth.  The 
important  fact  for  us  to  notice  is  that  heaven  is  de- 


52  THE    WORLD   LIGHTED. 

scribed  with  special  reference  to  its  illuminating 
power. 

First  let  us  observe  that  the  description  of  God 
which  is  given  in  the  fourth  chapter  is  substantially 
the  reappearance  of  the  celestial  sun  of  the  first  chap- 
ter. There  we  had  one  like  unto  the  Son  of  man, 
with  white  hair,  eyes  like  unto  a  flame  of  fire,  feet 
like  burning  brass,  and  countenance,  or,  as  some  take 
it,  the  whole  appearance,  "  as  the  sun  shineth  in  his 
strength."  Here  He  that  sits  upon  the  throne  is 
"  like  a  jasper  and  a  sardine  stone,  with  a  rainbow 
round  about  the  throne."  The  difference  between 
the  two  representations  we  may  consider  to  be  due  to 
the  difference  of  situations  of  the  beholder.  The  fiery 
splendor  of  the  Sun  of  righteousness,  which  blinds 
and  kills  any  mortal  spectator,  the  glorified  can  look 
upon  without  pain  or  injury.  To  them  that  splendor 
is  tempered  and  softened,  so  that  they  can  see  God  and 
not  die.  We  are  now  in  vision  with  John  in  heaven, 
and  can  therefore  look  upon  the  God  of  light  as  we 
look  upon  one  of  earth's  flashing  gems.  But  with 
this  difference  of  softness  produced  by  proximity,  the 
identity  of  the  divine  appearances  in  the  two  visions 
is  unmistakable. 

Imagine  a  gigantic  jasper  and  sardine  stone  of  hu- 
man or  greater  dimensions,  and  think  what  its  appear- 
ance would  be  !  Alford  says  that  it  would  be  "  white 
light  mingled  with  fire."  What  is  that  but  the  sun  ? 
That  it  is  the  sun,  the  "  rainbow  round  about  the 
throne"  is  the  emphatic  and  sufficient  witness.  The 
rainbow  is  the  child  of  the  sunshine  and  the  rain  — 
impossible  apart  from  the  bright  rays  of  the  solar 


HEAVEN   THE   SOURCE   OF   LIGHT.  53 

light.  What  is  betokened  by  the  predominance  in 
the  bow  of  the  emerald  tint  we  may  not  now  stop  to 
conjecture  ;  but  the  bow  itself  is  the  reminder  of  God's 
covenant  with  earth  not  again  to  destroy  it,  and  may, 
indeed,  remind  us  of  His  "  new  and  better  covenant" 
and  of  His  abundant  ability  to  fulfil  His  promises, 
especially  this  mighty  promise  of  the  enlightenment 
of  the  world. 

Observe  also  that  whereas,  in  the  first  vision,  the 
Son  of  man  held  seven  stars  in  His  right  hand,  here 
"seven  lamps  of  fire  burn  before  the  throne,"  ex- 
plained to  be  the  "seven  spirits  of  God."  Again, 
rjethaps  nearness  accounts  for  softness  of  radiance 
and  clearness  of  outline.  What  at  a  distance  appears 
a  flashing  point,  a  star  on  the  horizon,  when  ap- 
proached proves  to  be  a  lamp  in  some  cottage  window. 
We  are  not  obliged  to  identify  the  "  seven  lamps  of 
fire"  with  the  seven  angelic  stars.  For  as  the  light 
that  is  in  all  created  beings  is  only  derived  and  not 
original,  it  is  a  matter  of  course  that  when  we  trace 
the  light  of  any  spiritual  star,  human  or  angelic,  to 
its  source,  we  shall  find  it  to  be  the  illuminating  power 
of  God's  Holy  Spirit. 

Thus  have  been  indicated  the  wisdom  and  knowl- 
edge of  God,  who  is  the  source  of  all  truth  and  the 
fountain  of  all  knowledge  throughout  the  universe. 
Next  we  have  the  knowledge  and  wisdom  of  the 
Church  represented  by  the  twenty-four  elders  crowned 
and  enthroned  close  about  the  throne  of  central  Deity. 
Twelve  of  these  elders  represent  the  Jewish  Church, 
•twelve  the  Christian  Church.  They  suggest  to  us  the 
matured  and  sanctified  wisdom  of  patriarchs  and  apos- 


54  THE    WORLD   LIGHTED. 

ties  after  all  the  centuries  of  experience  and  culture 
which  these  worthies  have  enjoyed.  What  men 
Abraham,  and  Moses,  and  Daniel,  and  Paul,  and  John 
were  two  thousand  to  four  thousand  years  ago  !  What 
men  they  must  be  by  this  time,  after  such  an  extended 
period  of  growth  and  improvement  !  What  a  con- 
gress of  sanctified  human,  intellect  gathers  in  the  eter- 
nal world,  into  which  the  riches  of  earth  are  contin- 
ually pouring  !  If  that  congress  deliberates  upon 
earthly  affairs,  what  profound  sagacity,  what  broad 
statesmanship,  what  lofty  conceptions,  what  far-reach- 
ing foresight  those  deliberations  must  reveal ! 

It  would  be  more  than  we  know  to  say  that  our 
great  struggle  here  is  directly  assisted  by  the  wisdom 
of  the  former  leaders  of  the  Church.  It  must  be 
taken  as  the  symbol  and  suggestion  of  the  growing 
wisdom  of  the  Church  on  earth.  To  us  who  have  the 
garnered  results  of  what  God  said  "  to  the  fathers  by 
the  prophets,"  and  to  whom  He  "  hath  in  these  last 
days  spoken  by  His  Son,"  is  not  the  transmitted  and 
accumulated  knowledge  of  the  earthly  Church  worthy 
to  be  represented  by  those  constellations  of  glorified 
intelligence  whom  we  contemplate  as  dwelling  now 
in  the  heavens  ? 

Then  there  are  the  four  living  creatures  about 
whom  there  have  been  endless  disputes  into  which  it 
is  not  necessary  to  enter.  So  much  as  this  is  certainly 
clear,  that  they  stand  for  the  aggregate  of  created  in- 
telligence. Error  can  hope  to  maintain  itself  only 
through  the  absence  of  the  powers  of  observation  and 
understanding.  Against  error  and  for  truth  is  Ihe 
fact  of  intelligence  in  all  its  forms,  in  all  places,  ever 


HEAVEN   THE   SOURCE    OF    LIGHT.  55 

studying,  ever  finding  out  that  of  which  it  has  been 
ignorant,  ever  gathering  knowledge  of  new  facts,  and 
so  making  the  knowledge  of  other  facts  possible.  It 
is  the  symbolic  expression  of  this  general  intelligence 
which  I  find  in  the  four  living  creatures.  They  are 
composites  of  all  classes  of  animal  forms.  They  have 
eyes — in  fact,  are  " full  of 'eyes "  within  and  without, 
which  is  the  most  impressive  part  of  the  description 
of  them. 

If  we  turn  to  the  fuller  description  in  the  prophecy 
of  Ezekiel,  where  undoubtedly  the  same  symbols  oc- 
cur, we  come  upon  language  which  makes  these  living 
creatures  seem  still  fitter  to  belong  to  a  picture  of 
Keavenly  knowledge.  "  Their  appearance  was  like 
burning  coals  of  fire,  and  like  the  appearance  of 
lamps,  and  the  fire  was  bright,  and  out  of  the  fire 
went  forth  lightning.''''  "And  the  living  creatures 
ran,  and  returned  as  the  appearance  of  &  flash  of  light- 
ning."  Think  how  a  flash  of  lightning  in  the  darkest 
night  makes  all  objects  suddenly  and  plainly  visible, 
and  you  perceive  that  John  was  not  the  first  to  be  in- 
spired to  use  these  symbols  of  illumination.  The  later 
Scripture  takes  for  granted  the  knowledge  of  the 
earlier  Scripture.  But  now  that  we  have  supplied  it, 
and  can  see  these  four  living  creatures  not  only  as 
full  of  eyes  within  and  without,  but  also  as  glowing 
with  the  brightness  of  lamps  of  fire  and  the  almost  in- 
sufferable splendor  of  burning  coals  of  fire  and  even 
of  the  lightning  flash,  is  it  not  evident  that  we  are 
looking  upon  a  vision  precisely  of  the  same  kind  with 
the  opening  vision  of  the  Apocalypse  ? 

I  have,  then,  justified  my  assertion  that  the  vision 


56  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

of  heaven  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  this  book  is  sub- 
stantially a  renewal  of  the  vision  of  the  Son  of  man  in 
the  first  chapter.  Its  special  teaching  is  the  power  of 
heaven  to  illuminate  dark  places.  The  divine  King, 
"  like  unto  a  jasper  and  sardine  stone" — i.e.,  "  white 
light  mingled  with  fire,"  creating  a  rainbow  by  His 
effulgence  ;  the  seven  lamps  or  torches  burning  be- 
fore the  thron-e,  the  secret  sources  of  the  light  of  the 
seven  stars,  and  these  living  creatures  full  of  eyes  like 
burning  coals  and  lamps  and  lightning — what  is  this 
but  the  picture  of  the  fact  that  heaven  is  just  that 
place  of  lamps,  just  that  fountain  of  light  and  truth, 
which  earth's  darkness  needs  ?  As  we  see  what 
heaven  is,  we  know  what  earth  must  become. 

And  now,  in  the  fifth  chapter,  we  have  a  dramatic 
action  designed  to  answer  the  question,  How  shall 
heaven's  knowledge  displace  earth's  ignorance  ?  It  is 
almost  startling  to  find  the  answer  so  exactly  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  theory  which  we  have  undertaken 
to  test  by  applying  it  to  the  various  parts  of  the  Apoc- 
alypse. For  the  answer  is  a  book— a.  book  resting 
upon  the  hand  of  its  divine  Author.  A  book  is  the 
very  means  by  which  one  of  us  human  beings  attempts 
to  give  the  information  which  he  possesses  to  his  fel- 
low-creatures. A  book  means,  and  can  only  mean, 
the  publication  to  the  world  of  the  knowledge  which 
God  alone  originally  has.  It  is  by  a  book — the  Bible 
— that  God  has  already  sought  to  remove  human  igno- 
rance. Nature  itself — the  older  revelation — may  be 
regarded  as  an  open  volume  for  human  instruction. 
This  is  God's  method  to  subjugate  to  Himself  the 
world,  to  let  the  light  of  His  truth  shine  into  human 


HEAVEN   THE    SOURCE    OF    LIGHT.  57 

hearts  until  it  shall,  have  become  impossible  not  to 
love  and  serve  Him.  "In  IJiy  light  shall  we  see 
light."  This  has  always  been  God's  plan.  Herein 
the  Revelation  we  find  God's  last  word  upon  His  plan, 
and  we  find  Him  adhering  to  and  not  departing  from 
His  plan  from  the  beginning. 

There  have  been  many  guesses  as  to  the  nature  and 
contents  of  this  book  seen  by  John  in  or  upon  the 
divine  hand.  Some  think  it  to  be  the  Apocalypse 
itself,  some  the  book  of  destiny,  some  the  book  of 
God's  judgments.  My  theory  requires  that  it  should 
be  all  the  additional  light  necessary  to  the  conversion 
of  mankind.  Not  necessarily  a  new  revelation  ;  per- 
haps chiefly  light  upon  the  old  revelations,  the  light 
which  God  has  and  always  has  had,  but  which  we  yet 
lack.  God,  we  must  remember,  has  always  been  in 
possession  of  the  facts  which  would  have  made  rebel-  <^_^r 
lion  and  unbelief  impossible.?  If  mankind  had  always  A- ^* 
known  what  God  has  always  known  our  human  career 
of  impiety  could  hardly  have  taken  place.  What  is 
needed  to  check  that  career,  always  including  the 
work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  the  heart,  is  for  the 
divine  knowledge  to  become  human  knowledge.  More 
and  more  light  must  shine.  The  progress  of  discov- 
ery, which  is  only  the  other  side  of  the  progress  of 
revelation,  must  put  beyond  question  truths  now  de- 
bated. The  inspiration  of  the  Bible,  the  divinity  of  our 
Lord,  and  the  virtue  of  Ilis  atonement  must  cease  to 
be  debatable  questions.  The  time  must  come  when 
men  can  no  longer  any  more  doubt  what  are  the  facts 
about  God,  or  sin,  or  salvation,  than  they  can  deny 
gravitation  or  the  Copernican  system.  This  era  of 


58  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

light  will  be  to  our  present  situation  what  noonday  is 
to  the  dawn.  And  all  the  difference  between  present 
knowledge  and  that  full  and  overwhelming  knowledge 
may  be  considered  as  the  contents  of  that  book  which 
John  saw  upon  the  hand  of  its  divine  Author. 

This  view  of  the  book  makes  intelligible  the  grief 
of  John  at  the  apparent  impossibility  of  having  it  un- 
sealed and  read.  "  I  wept  much,"  he  says,  "  because 
no  one  was  found  worthy  to  open  the  book  or  to  look 
thereon."  This  grief  is  hardly  comprehensible  upon 
the  supposition  that  it  was  the  book  of  destiny,  or  of 
judgments,  or  the  Apocalypse  itself.  But  if  it  was 
the  book  of  divine  knowledge  which  needed  to  become 
human  knowledge  in  order  for  this  world  to  become 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  no  wonder  that  John  wept 
when  it  seemed  as  if  the  book  could  not  possibly  be 
opened. 

Nothing  could  be  truer  to  the  facts  than  the  descrip- 
tion. The  book,  complete  and  ready,  resting  upon 
the. hand  of  the  Author,  sets  forth  the  disposition  of 
God  to  enlighten  mankind.  But  there  are  certain 
difficulties,  apparently  great  and  insuperable  difficul- 
ties, about  the  reception  of  this  enlightenment  by 
men.  These  difficulties,  and  not  any  objections  orig- 
inating with  God,  it  seems  to  me  must  be  what  is  rep- 
resented by  the  seven  seals.  There  are  difficulties 
enough  to  account  for  the  seals  without  supposing  that 
God  arbitrarily  or  voluntarily  adds  to  their  number. 
It  is  true,  terribly  true,  that  man  has  it  in  his  power 
to  obstruct  the  progress  of  the  knowledge  of  God. 
God  makes  books  ;  men  put  seals  upon  them.  And 
the  question  of  questions  is — no  wonder  that  John 


HEAVEN   THE   SOURCE   OF    LIGHT.  59 

wept  at  the  prospect  of  its  being  negatived — whether 
those  seals  can  be  broken,  whether  the  impediments 
to  the  spiritual  education  of  the  human  race  can  be 
overcome,  whether  the  locks  which  confine  the  human 
mind  in  its  dungeon  of  darkness  can  be  removed. 
These  seals  we  can  see  ;  it  requires  no  high  power  of 
imagination  to  conceive  what  they  can  be  ;  they  look 
so  massive  and  mighty  that  we  despair  of  their  re- 
moval, and  it  is  unnecessary  to  spend  our  thought  upon 
divine  objections  to  human  education,  when  human 
objections  and  obstructions  are  so  plain  and  palpable. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  progress  of  the  human  mind 
in  the  acquisition  of  divine  knowledge  is  possible  only  \/ 
by  &  succession  of  victories.  A  second  step  toward  /\ 
truth  becomes  practicable  because  a  previous  step  has 
been  gained.  Not  till  that  preparatory  step  has  been 
taken  is  the  way  open  to  take  the  next  step.  The 
world  waited  for  a  proper  interpretation  of  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis  until  the  lately  born  science  of 
geology  made  that  interpretation  possible.  Ignorance 
of  that  science  was,  up  to  the  time  of  its  inception,  a 
seal  which  locked  up  the  meaning  of  the  truth.  In 
like  manner  ignorance  of  any  class  of  facts  is  a  bar  to 
the  understanding  of  some  other  facts,  a  seal  upon  the 
divine  book  of  knowledge  which  effectually  restrains 
study  until  the  "seal  is  broken.  In  order  to  under- 
stand all  things  which  it  is  needful  to  know,  the  last 
seal  must  disappear  which  some  special  ignorance  im- 
poses. When  all  studies  have  reached  their  results 
and  all  discoveries  have  been  made  in  all  departments 
of  research,  the  light  of  general  and  sufficient  infor- 
'mation  will  shine  into  all  minds,  and  men,  the  men 


60  THE   WORLD   LIGHTED. 

that  can  be  saved  by  light,  will  everywhere  know  too 
much  to  be  able  to  continue  in  folly  and  rebellion. 

Is  the  breaking  of  the  seals,  then,  a  wholly  human 
process  of  investigation  and  acquisition  ?  By  no  means. 
The  human  faculties  have  their  appointed  place  in  the 
work,  but  it  is  God  that  worketh  all  in  all.  The 
providence  of  the  divine  mind  is  nowhere  more  marked 
than  in  the  advancement  of  true  learning.  Discovery 
follows  discovery,  truth  follows  truth,  not  only  be- 
cause man  searches  and  finds,  but  because  God  guides 
and  reveals. 

The  greatest  secret  of  the  intellectual  success  of  the 
race  is  the  revealing  power  of  Christianity.  This  is 
the  rational  interpretation  of  the  ascription  of  worthi- 
ness to  the  Lamb  uttered  by  the  representatives  of 
the  glorified  Church  in  this  vision.  They  cry,  "  Thou 
art  worthy  to  take  the  book,  and  to  open  the  seals 
thereof  :  for  Thou  wast  slain,  and  hast  redeemed  us 
unto  God  by  Thy  Hood  out  of  every  kindred,  and 
tongue,  and  people,  and  nation  ;  and  hast  made  us 
unto  our  God  kings  and  priests  :  and  we  shall  reign 
on  the  earth."  There  throbs  through  this  ascription 
of  praise  the  living  consciousness  of  the  saved  soul 
that  the  death  of  Christ  was  the  birth  of  a  new  humanity 
and  the  pledge  of  a  regenerated  world. 

Each  child  of  God  who  understands  his  own  spiritual 
life  knows  that  it  was  the  sight  of  the  Cross  which  the 
Holy  Spirit  used  when  Christ  first  became  to  him  wis- 
dom. It  was  the  power  of  the  preaching  of  the  Cross 
by  which,  as  a  means,  God,  who  commanded  the  light 
to  shine  out  of  darkness,  shined  in  his  heart  to  give 
the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the 


HEAVEN   THE    SOURCE    OF   LIGHT.  Cl 

face  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  from  tho  live  coals  on  the 
altar  where  Christ  was  offered  as  a  sacrifice  for  sin 
that  each  Christian  lights  that  torch  which  henceforth 
throws  its  light  upon  everything  which  he  considers. 
No  wonder  that  the  saved  disciple  has  such  faith  in 
that  which  has  illuminated  him.  Why  should  he  not 
expect  that  the  Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of 
the  world  may  be  to  unnumbered  others  what  lie  has 
been  to  him,  and  that  the  radiance  of  Calvary  is  to 
extend  to  the  utmost  limits  of  the  race  ?  The  Cruci- 
fixion is  the  key-fact  of  human  history.  Christ  cruci- 
fied opens  the  doors  of  all  knowledge.  If  it  had  not 
been  for  Ilis  death,  the  story  of  the  human  race  would 
hav6  lorever  continued  a  hopeless  puzzle.  Since  that 
so  much  has  become  intelligible  that  it  may  be  hoped 
that  all  will  be.  He  who  has  shed  so  much  light  may 
be  trusted  to  shed  more  light,  until  all  becomes  clear. 
With  the  Bible  for  our  text-book  and  the  Holy  Spirit 
for  our  instructor  all  riddles  will  be  read,  and  all  mys- 
teries which  stand  in  the  way  of  human  salvation  will 
finally  be  explained. 


VI. 

THE  OPENING  OF  THE  SEVEN  SEALS. 

IF  now  our  conception  of  the  subject  of  the  Apoc- 
alypse be  correct,  and  our  principle  of  interpretation 
the  true  one,  we  ought  to  find  in  the  description  of 
the  opening  of  the  seven  seals  the  seven  stages  of  a 
great  progress  in  the  mental  illumination  of  the  world. 
We  ought  to  find  depicted  the  successive  steps  of  a 
march  the  goal  of  which  is  the  complete  spiritual  en- 
lightenment of  mankind.  Let  me  not  here  or  else- 
where be  misunderstood.  I  am  not  speaking  of  uni- 
versal salvation,  but  of  that  general  prevalence  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  Lord  which  is  the  indispensable  con- 
dition of  His  receiving  the  "  heathen"  for  His  "  in- 
heritance," and  "  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for" 
His  "  possession." 

It  does  not  follow,  however,  that  the  description  is 
to  be  a  literal  one.  On  the  contrary,  the  very  char- 
acter of  the  book  requires  that  it  should  be  symbolic. 
A  literal  description  of  the  progress  of  truth  conse- 
quent upon  the  removal  of  the  great  obstacles  which 
hold  it  in  check  would  be  a  prophetic  anticipation  of 
the  varying  course  of  human  opinions,  and  the  vic- 
tories of  revealed  truth  over  the  false  philosophy, 
sophistry,  and  heresy  of  our  race.  .  Such  a  statement, 
in  advance,  of  the  long  and  intricate  struggle  in  the 
realm  of  thought,  we  cannot  suppose  likely  to  h^ve 


THE   OPENING   OF   THE   SEVEN   SEALS.  G3 

been  given  by  inspiration.  It  would  have  been  even 
more  unintelligible  to  most  minds  than  the  symbolism 
of  this  book  has  proved.  All  that  could  be  done  in 
depicting  such  a  conflict  was  to  set  forth,  by  means  of 
pictures,  some  general  idea  of  the  struggle,  and  to 
show  it  advancing  to  triumph. 

The  trouble  with  many  expositors  has  been  that 
they  have  seen  no  way  but  to  take  these  descriptions 
literally.  These  pictures  of  war,  famine,  and  pesti- 
lence, instead  of  being  regarded  as  shadows  of  changes 
in  the  realm  of  ideas,  have  been  supposed  by  many  to 
mean  only  war,  famine,  and  pestilence.  Great  efforts 
have  been  made  to  identify  the  particular  historical 
everfts  which,  it  was  supposed,  are  here  singled  out 
for  their  pre-eminent  influence  upon  the  fortunes  of 
the  Church.  Rival  historical  interpreters  have  con- 
tended for  particular  battles,  famines,  and  pestilences 
which  seemed  to  them  to  have  special  claims  to  atten- 
tion by  the  inspired  author.  It  is  almost  needless  to 
say  that  no  interpretation  of  this  kind  has  ever  estab- 
lished itself  as  conclusive,  or  can  ever  be  pronounced 
more  certain  than  any  other. 

Another  class  of  interpreters  are  satisfied  to  take 
the  phenomena  described  in  a  general  sense.  They 
are  not,  however,  consistent  in  adhering  to  this  plan 
through  the  whole  description,  but  having  taken  a 
part  of  it  to  be  general,  they  still  consider  another  part 
as  particular.  There  is  no  end  to  the  confusion  intro- 
duced by  such  a  method  of  interpretation.  Alford, 
for  example,  makes  the  first  five  seals  symbolic  expres- 
sions of  victory,  war,  famine,  pestilence,  and  martyr- 
dom in  general,  but  insists  that  the  sixth  seal  belongs 


64  THE   WORLD   LIGHTED. 

to  a  particular  event — the  judgment.  One  result  of 
this  method  of  interpretation  is  that  the  end  of  all 
things  is  reached  under  the  sixth  seal,  leaving  the 
seventh  seal  to  be  superfluous. 

The  person  who  takes  these  descriptions  literally 
imposes  upon  himself  the  task  of  explaining  what  lit- 
eral war,  famine,  and  pestilence  have  to  do  with  the 
progress  of  Christ's  kingdom.  Even  though  he  take 
them  generally,  he  does  not  escape  that  necessity.  It 
is  no  easy  task.  Not  that  an  ingenious  mind  might 
not  show  that  these  have  resulted  in  religious  progress. 
God  has  undoubtedly  used  war,  famine,  and  pestilence 
for  the  furtherance  of  His  cause.  But  the  selec- 
tion of  these  classes  of  events,  one  for  each  seal,  if 
they  are  taken  literally,  requires  that  they  should  be 
shown  to  be  more  helpful  to  Christianity  than  any 
other  classes  of  events.  Is  that  true?  Can  it  be 
proved  to  be  the  fact  that  war,  famine,  and  pestilence 
have  contributed  more  to  the  advancement  of  the 
divine  kingdom  than  peace,  plenty,  and  health  ?  Per- 
haps it  can,  but  it  is  difficult  ;  nobody,  at  any  rate, 
has  yet  attempted  it.  To  justify  a  literal  interpreta- 
tion it  must  be  shown  that  the  clash  of  arms  and  the 
horrors  of  war  have  had  a  principal  place  as  means 
of  the  world's  improvement. 

For  myself  I  cannot  think  that  these  great  evils  and 
curses  have  had,  or  can  have,  such  a  place  among 
God's  means  of  grace.  I  know  that  "  lie  maketh  the 
wrath  of  man  to  praise  Him,"  but  not  surely  as  much 
as  He  makes  the  Gospel  of  His  Son  and  the  brotherly 
love  of  His  people.  He  has  overruled  these  things, 
no  doubt,  to  His  glory  ;  they  have  contributed  some- 


THE    OPENING   OF   THE   SEVEN    SEALS.  65 

what,  beyond  question,  by  their  stern  teaching,  tohuman 
improvement  ;  but  to  give  them  the  chief  place  in 
God's  scheme,  which  they  seem  to  have  by  a  literal 
interpretation  of  the  pictures  disclosed  by  the  break- 
ing of  the  seven  seals,  is  to  reverse  all  our  ideas  of  the 
divine  methods.  Besides,  we  have  abundant  warning 
against  this  method  of  interpretation.  Over  and  over 
we  are  admonished  that  the  real  fighting  intended  in 
the  Apocalypse  is  altogether  spiritual.  "  I  will  fight 
against  thee  with  the  sword  of  My  mouth,"  says  the 
great  Figure  of  the  prophecy  to  one  of  His  erring 
churches.  It  is  not  material  warfare  that  this  book 
describes,  but  the  inevitable  battle,  the  "irrepressible 
conflict"  of  truth  with  falsehood. 

Not  expecting  now  to  find  a  literal  description  of 
this  conflict,  which  would  be  to  tell  beforehand  what 
all  the  heresiarchs  from  Celsus  to  Ingersoll,  or  Inger- 
soll's  most  distant  successor,  would  have  to  say,  and 
how  the  champions  of  orthodoxy  would  reply  to  them  ; 
still  less  expecting  to  be  able  to  show  how  the  great 
curses  of  the  world  have  subserved  the  purpose  of  the 
truth  pre-eminently,  we  come  to  this  question,  Are 
the  pictures  described  in  the  account  of  the  opening 
of  the  seven  seals  such  as  to  serve  as  a  representation 
of  the  progress  of  light  in  overcoming  the  moral  dark- 
ness of  mankind  ?  Does  the  symbolism  admit  of 
being  interpreted  as  the  successive  steps  of  that  ad- 
vance which  the  truth  of  God  must  make  upon  the  re- 
moval, one  after  another,  of  the  great  impediments 
which  stand  in  its  way  ?  To  this  it  may  be  replied 
emphatically,  Yes  !  So  looked  at,  these  images  fall 
into  order  and  appear  to  have  a  worthy  meaning.  In 


66  THE   WORLD   LIGHTED. 

this  way  we  find  that  progress,  that  harmony,  that 
.correlation  of  thought,  which  we  are  warranted  in  ex- 
pecting in  a  divine  communication  to  men. 

According  to  this  idea  we  should  anticipate  in  the 
first  picture  the  weakest  expression  of  the  conception 
of  progress.  Expositors  have  been  puzzled  by  the 
fact  that  the  conqueror  upon  a  white  horse  seems  the 
symbol  of  complete  victory.  If  he  be  that  there  is  no 
progress  of  thought,  for  what  should  be  the  last  pic- 
ture is  put  first.  The  end  would  appear  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  first  seal,  and  the  opening  of  the  other  six 
would  become  unnecessary. 

Let  me  now  put  before  the  reader  my  own  concep- 
tion of  the  significance  of  this  series  of  symbols. 

The  first  four  seals  are  represented  as  disclosing' 
four  remarkable  horsemen.  These  horsemen  make 
their  appearance  at  the  call  of  the  four  living  creat- 
ures who  symbolize  created  intelligence.  These  creat- 
ures cry  ''  Come  !"  one  after  another,  as  with  a  voice 
of  thunder,  which  must  signify  the  strength  of  the 
demand  for  these  successive  disclosures  of  the  truth. 
Elsewhere  in  the  Apocalypse  thunder  is  thejvoice  of 
God,  as  it  is  also  in  the  Gospels,  especially  in  that 
memorable  instance  where  God  spoke  to  the  Son,  and 
"  the  people  said  it  thundered."  In  this  case,  then, 
we  have  the  human  demand  for  more  knowledge  re- 
inforced by  the  divine  demand  ;  "  vox  populi"  is  also 
"  vox  Dei." 

These  living  creatures  cry  "  Come  !"  in  a  certain 
order,  which  is  evidently  significant  of  the  growing 
strength  of  the  demand  of  intelligence  for  truth.  The 
first  living  creature  was  ''like  a  lion;"  the  second, 


THE   OPENING    OF   THE   SEVEN   SEALS.  C7 

"  like  a  calf"  or  ox  ;  the  third  "  had  a  face  as  of  a 
man,"  and  the  fourth  "was  like  a  flying  eagle." 
These  forms  are  certainly  not  to  be  regarded  as  equals 
in  their  symbolization  of  intelligence.  The  lion, 
though  the  king  of  savage  beasts,  falls  below  the 
humblest  of  the  domestic  animals.  "  The  ox-know- 
cth  his  owner,  and  the  ass  his  master's  crib."'  Man 
rises  far  above  the  most  sagacious  of  his  brute  ser- 
vants. But  it  is  redeemed  and  regenerated  man  who, 
by  waiting  upon  the  Lord,  ''  mounts  up  with  wings 
as  eagles,1'  and  becomes  a  partaker  of  the  divine  na- 
ture. These  living  creatures,  then,  who  voice  the  de- 
mand of  intelligence  for  increase  of  light,  do  so  in  the 
order  of  their  degree  of  intelligence.  It  is  as  if,  first, 
the -wild  beasts  cried  "Come;"  then  the  domestic 
animals  ;  then  the  human  race  in  its  natural  wisdom, 
and  finally  Christian  wisdom  enlightened  and  quick- 
ened by  the  Holy  Spirit. 

A  similar  progress  can  be  seen  in  the  appearances 
of  the  horsemen,  who  must  represent  the  truth  itself 
in  its  growth  and  extension.  The  first  should,  of 
course,  represent  the  first  successes  of  the  Gospel. 
The  picture  is  that  of  a  warrior  upon  a  white  horse, 
with  a  bow  in  his  hand,  whose  victories  are  yet  prin- 
cipally anticipatory.  His  fair  array  is  yet  unstained 
by  the  gore  of  actual  fighting  ;  he  is  more  like  a  holi- 
day warrior  on  dress  parade  crowned  by  the  good 
opinions  of  beholders  with  the  assurance  of  success. 
It  is  a  fitting  symbol  with  which  to  begin  a  series 
which  is  to  go  on  increasing  in  signs  of  power  to  the 
last  of  the  series. 

The  second  picture,  by  common  consent,  stands  for 


03  THE   WOULD    LIGHTED. 

war,  real  and  sanguinary.  It  is  a  rider  upon  a  red 
horse,  whose  battles  have  stained  him  with  blood,  who 
has  power  to  take  peace  from  the  earth,  and  whose 
weapon  is  not  a  bow,  but  a  sword  ;  not  the  instrument 
of  distant  attack,  but  of  hand-to-hand  fighting.  Here 
is  progress  such  as  our  minds  demand  from  the  latent 
power  indicated  by  the  appearance  of  resources,  to  the 
actual  power  exercised  by  disciplined  and  veteran 
valor. 

The  third  seal  being  opened,  we  see  a  rider  upon  a 
Hack  horse,  who  has  a  balance  in  his  hands,  and  is  the 
awful  emblem  of  famine.  Of  war  and  famine,  which 
is  the  stronger  idea  ?  Famine  undoubtedly  ;  where 
war  slays  its  thousands,  famine  slays  its  ten  thousands. 
The  besieged  city  endures  all  assaults  but  that  of  star- 
vation. Jerusalem  was  conquered  not  by  the  soldiers 
of  Titus,  but  by  that  awful  destitution  of  food  which 
made  a  mother  kill,  and  cook,  and  devour  her  own 
child. 

It  must  be  said,  however,  that  the  figure  is  not  in- 
tended to  be  understood  in  this  extremity  of  its  great- 
ness. It  is  not  utter  famine  that  is  to  be  thought  of, 
•where  there  is  nothing  whatever  to  eat,  but  only  that 
moderate  stringency  where  food  is  scarce  and  com- 
paratively high  priced.  Even  such  a  degree  of  dep- 
rivation is  more  dreadful  to  a  nation  than  war. 
Even  at  such  a  time  there  will  be  distress  in  many 
quarters,  like  that  in  Ireland  when  that  pathetic  poeni 
was  written, 

"  Give  me  three  grains  of  corn,  mother, 
Give  me  three  grains  of  corn  !" 

And  now,  what  is  stronger  than  famine  ?     Death 


THE    OPENING    OF   THE    SEVEN    SEALS.  G9 

upon  his  pale  horse,  whom  the  opening  of  the  fourth 
seal  discloses.  Famine  slays  many,  but  death  slays 
all.  Of  all  these  terrible  riders  upon  horses,  Death  is 
the  most  terrible.  He  is  a  conqueror  who  lays  all 
lives  low. 

It  is  obvious  that  we  have  reached  a  limit  in  this 
direction.  This  quaternion  of  cavalry  exhausts  the 
possibilities  of  this  kind  of  imagery,  and  the  varieties 
of  earthly  intelligence  which  call  for  progress  are  also 
exhausted.  An  uninspired  imagination  might  have 
faltered  here,  unable  to  find  an  image  which  should 
still  further  heighten  the  idea  of  the  growing  power 
*of  truth  upon  the  removal  of  successive  obstacles  to 
its  progress.  We  have  been  told  that  it  is  like  a  war- 
rior upon  a  white  horse  before  the  battle,  exultant 
with  the  confidence  of  victory  ;  like  a  battle-scarred 
warrior  upon  a  red  horse,  slaying  his  thousands  ;  like 
Famine,  slaying  his  tens  of  thousands  ;  and  finally  like 
Death,  slaying  all.  How  can  the  idea  of  power  in  con- 
quest be  carried  still  further  ? 

By  passing  into  the  world  of  the  dead,  and  picturing 
the  intermediate  state.  And  now  the  power  portrayed 
is  no  longer  mere  brute  force,  but  moral  power.  It 
is  moral  power  exerted  through  prayer^  in  circum- 
stances precisely  such  as  to  make  prayer  most  over- 
whelmingly powerful.  It  is  the  souls  of  the  martyrs 
who  pray,  and  they  call  upon  God  for  justice,  only  for 
justice  ;  and  how  can  a  good  God  refuse  to  heed  such 
a  prayer  ?  The  thought  is  inconceivable,  so  that  we 
have  risen  to  a  conception  of  the  power  of  prayer 
when  it  is  omnipotent. 

But  here  for  the  first  time  the  symbolism  is  of  such 


70  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

a  kind  as  to  suggest  the  real  nature  of  the  conflict  and 
of  the  successes  gained.  The  four  previous  seals  are 
represented  as  being  opened  in  sympathy  with  the  de- 
sire of  the  fourfold  intelligence  of  the  world  for  the 
coming  of  a  better  kingdom.  But  the  breaking  of 
the  fifth  seal  reveals  the  desire  of  a  still  higher  intelli- 
gence. It  is  that  of  martyr  spirits,  who  have  added  to 
their  Christian  knowledge  in  this  life  the  acquisitions 
of  the  intermediate  state.  If  the  knowledge  which 
shall  prevail  in  the  earth  upon  the  removal  of  the 
fifth  great  obstacle  to  enlightenment  be  worthy  to  be 
represented  by  that  of  sanctified  souls  in  the  inter- 
mediate state,  vdiat  knowledge  that  will  be  ! 

Perhaps  it  is  intended  to  suggest  to  us  an  age  when 
the  crimes  of  the  martyr  ages  will  at  length  appear  to 
mankind  in  their  true  light,  and  the  long-sleeping 
sense  of  justice  toward  the  Church  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  will  awaken  everywhere  through  the  world. 
That  time  cannot  yet  be  said  to  have  arrived,  for 
though  persecution  of  the  early  sort  has  generally 
ceased,  it  still  remains  true  that  they  that  "  will  be 
godly  must  suffer  persecution."  There  are  not  wantr 
ing  signs,  however,  that  the  "  good  time  coming"  is  on 
the  way,  when  the  Church,  instead  of  being  maligned 
and  opposed,  shall  everywhere  be  honored  and  assisted. 

The  sixth  seal  is  now  opened,  and  the  picture  chosen 
to  illustrate  the  knowledge  of  the  period  for  which 
this  seal  stands  is  the  description  of  the  Judgment 
Day.  Alford  and  others  are  not  wrong  in  saying 
that  the  language  is  that  elsewhere  used  to  depict  the 
end  of  the  world.  They  are  wrong,  however,  in  tak- 
ing the  language  historically  as  a  prophetic  announce- 


THE   OPENING   OF  THE   SEVEN   SEALS.  71 

merit  of  the  second  and  personal  coming  of  Christ. 
So  understood,  there  would  be  nothing  more  for  a  sev- 
enth seal  to  introduce,  because  the  coming  which  is 
the  subject  of  the  book  (according  to  that  interpreta- 
tion) would  have  taken  place.  But  according  to  the 
view  here  taken,  the  coming  is  that  of  Christ  in  the 
truth,  and  to  set  it  forth  the  judgment  scene  is  here 
used  not  historically,  but  only  symbolically. 

As  a  symbol  of  the  progress  of  knowledge,  the  Judg- 
ment is  in  advance  of  the  intermediate  state.  The  in- 
termediate state  is  in  advance  of  all  knowledge  in  this 
life,  but  the  Judgment  is  in  advance  of  the  interme- 
diate state,  because  it  is  the  end  of  that  state.  At  the 
Judgment  all  will  be  known  that  needed  to  be  known 
in  order  to'pass  the  final  sentence  upon  all  souls.  In 
accordance  with  this  fact,  the  knowledge  here  ex- 
pressed is  attributed  not  to  the  holy  martyrs,  but  to 
the  great  sinners  of  the  world.  The  progress  of  en- 
lightenment seems  now  to  have  gone  so  far  that  not 
only  the  good,  but  the  bad  understand  ;  not  only  the 
pure  in  heart  see  God,  but  the  leaders  of  human 
wickedness,  no  longer  able  to  be  blind  to  their  situa- 
tion, see  it  so  clearly  as  to  cry  to  the  mountains  and 
the  rocks  to  fall  upon  them  and  to  "  hide  them  from 
the  face  of  Him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and 
from  the  wrath  of  the  Lamb."  If  this  blazing  bright- 
ness of  the  Judgment  Day  isjx>  be  taken  symbolically 
of  a  period  of  human  history,  what  a  period  of  general 
and  clear  acknowledgment  of  truths  long  denied  and 
resisted  it  will  be  ! 

Dr.  Justin  A.  Smith,  whose  valuable  authority  I 
am  glad  to  be  able  to  quote  for  the  opinion  that  the 


72  TIIK    WORLD   LIGHTED. 

scenes  of  the  Judgment  Day  are  used  in  tin's  place 
symbolically,  also  agrees  with  me  so  far  as  to  infer 
that  the  symbolism  implies  changes  upon  earth  of  the 
greatest  magnitude.  "Doubtless,"  he  says,  "  it  can 
be  only  great  and  awful  events  which  may  appropri- 
ately be  represented  under  such  imagery  ;  revolutions 
wide-reaching  and  overwhelming,  a  downfall  of  earthly 
powers  and  dignities  as  great  as  the  imagination  is 
capable  of  conceiving."  The  difference  between  Dr. 
Smith  and  myself  relates  chiefly  to  the  nature  of  these 
remarkable  changes.  He  has  in  mind  political  revo- 
lutions, which  I  am  far  from  denying  may  be  in- 
cluded ;  but  my  main  idea  is  of  revolutions  in  the  re- 
gion of  ideas.  "  Ideas,"  says  Bishop  Vincent,  "  are 
the  factors  that  lift  civilization.  They  create  revo- 
lutions. There  is  more  dynamite  in  an  idea  than  in 
many  bombs. "  In  accordance  with  the  thought  thus 
so  happily  expressed,  I  would  say  that  a  state  of  so- 
ciety worthy  to  be  symbolized  by  the  scenes  of  the 
Judgment  Day  must  be  one  in  which  the  whole  intel- 
lectual and  moral  foundations,  as  at  present  existing, 
shall  have  been  utterly  exploded  and  tumbled  into 
ruins.  Must  it  not  eventually  be  so  ?  Must  not  the 
time  come  when  the  selfish  and  worldly  principles  on 
which  mankind  at  large  base  their  lives  shall  bo  quite 
superseded  by  the  principles  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  ? 
When  that  time  comes  "  the  kings  of  the  earth,  arid 
the  princes,  and  the  military  tribunes,  and  the  rich, 
and  the  strong,  and  every  bond  man,  and  free  man" 
will  have  to  get  out  of  the  world  or  join  the  glorious 
company  of  those  whose  practice  agrees  with  the 
acknowledged  principles  of  a  true  life. 


THE   OPENING   OF   THE   SEVEN   SEALS.  73 

And  now  have  we  not  reached  the  end  ?  Can  sym- 
bolism go  any  further  ?  What  remains  to  stand  for 
that  period  which  shall  succeed  the  removal  of  the 
last  great  obstacle  to  human  enlightenment,  the  ob- 
stacle represented  by  the  seventh  seal  ?  Why,  the  pic- 
ture of  heaven.  The  rider  upon  the  white  horse, 
upon  the  red  horse,  upon  the  black  horse,  upon  the 
pale  horse,  the  intermediate  state,  and  the  Judgment 
Day  are  a  series  of  sublime  symbols  which  require  but 
one  idea  more  to  complete  them — that  of  heaven. 

Accordingly  in  the  seventh  chapter  of  the  Apoc- 
alypse we  find  ourselves  once  more  in  the  heaven  de- 
senbed  at  the  beginning  of  this  vision.  Once  more 
we  are  in  the  presence  of  the  throne,  and  of  the  eld- 
ers, and  of  the  four  living  creatures.  But  now  the 
saved  are  here  with  the  seal  of  God  upon  their  fore- 
heads, and  we  know  who  they  are  and  how  many 
there  are.  No  man,  to  be  sure,  can  number  them,  and 
yet  they  are  numbered,  and  we  are  told  exactly  how 
many  have  come  out  of  every  tribe.  This  is  the 
knowledge  not  of  man,  but  of  God.  How  much 
greater  heaven's  knowledge  thus  suggested  to  us  is 
than  that  suggested  by  the  Judgment  Day  !  It  is  not 
now  the  martyr  soul  whose  information  indicates  what 
the  world  has  come  to  enjoy,  not  the  condemned  spirit 
before  the  bar  of  God,  but  the  knowledge  of  God 
Himself,  to  whose  eye  no  one  in  the  great  multitude 
of  His  children  will  be  overlooked  or  forgotten,  any 
more  than  now  any  sparrow  falls  to  the  ground  with- 
out His  notice. 

It  is  not  strange  that  this  picture  of  heaven  precedes 
as  well  as  follows  the  opening  of  the  seventh  seal. 


74  THE   WORLD   LIGHTED. 

When  there  yet  remains  but  one  more  barrier  to  the 
perfect  knowledge  of  God  in  the  earth,  it  will  not  be 
far  from  a  heavenly  state.  But  one  more  barrier  to 
be  thrown  down — and  what  then  ?  What  is  that 
silence  which  is  represented  as  reigning  in  heaven  for 
the  space  of  half  an  hour  after  the  opening  of  the  sev- 
enth seal  ?  What  but  the  hush  of  perfect  agreement 
which  will  at  last  come  over  this  stormy  world  when 
the  last  obstacle  to  a  complete  acquaintance  with 
divine  truth  is  removed  ?  How  can  men  any  longer 
dispute,  when  all  see  facts  and  truths  in  the  light  of  a 
general  acknowledgment  ?  What  more  beautiful  em- 
blem could  have  been  given  of  the  final  triumph  of 
truth  over  error  ?  When  that  glad  day  comes,  and 
eye  sees  to  eye  all  over  this  broad  earth,  the  voice  of 
envenomed  controversy  will  have  forever  ceased,  and 
for  the  first  time  men  will  be  calm  enough  and  still 
enough  to  hear  distinctly  the  still,  small  voice  of  the 
oracle  of  God  in  their  hearts  and  in  creation. 


VII. 

THE   FOUR   TRUMPETS. 

WE  have  reached  perhaps  the  most  difficult  part 
of  the  Apocalypse.  There  is  no  portion  of  the  Word 
of  God  which  comes  any  nearer  to  driving  expositors 
to  despair.  Any  gleam  of  light  upon  the  darkness  of 
the  passage  just  before  us  ought  to  be  doubly  wel- 
coftne.  Alford  frankly  confesses  that  he  has  "  never 
seen  in  any  Apocalyptic  commentator  an  interpreta- 
tion of  these  details  at  all  approaching  to  verisimili- 
tude ;  never  any  which  is  not  obliged  to  force  the 
plain  sense  of  words  or  the  certain  course  of  history 
to  make  them  fit  the  requisite  theory." 

If  I  cannot  speak  thus  strongly  it  is  because  I  have 
seen  one  interpretation  which  Alford  had  not  seen, 
that  of  Dr.  Justin  A.  Smith  in  his  recent  commen- 
tary. No  one  can  say  that  he  either  forces  the  plain 
sense  of  words  or  the  course  of  history  to  make  them 
fit  his  interesting  interpretation  of  the  first  four  trump- 
ets. If  I  do  not  adopt  it  altogether,  it  is  not  because  I 
do  not  perceive  its  reasonableness  and  its  singular  har- 
mony with  the  facts  of  the  Christian  era,  but  because 
my  own  interpretation,  already  made  before  seeing 
Dr.  Smith's,  still  seems  to  me  preferable  and  even 
capable  of  including  his  and  deriving  confirmation  from 
it. 

The  description  of  the  seven  trumpets  begins  with 


70  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

the  second  verse  of  the  eighth  chapter,  and  continues 
to  the  end  of  the  eleventh  chapter.  Each  trumpet 
except  the  last  is  followed  by  something  of  a  malign 
nature.  First  the  earth  is  smitten  ;  then  the  sea  ; 
then  the  fountains  of  waters  ;  then  the  sun,  moon, 
and  stars.  These  disasters  are  followed  by  the  an- 
nouncement of  three  others  still  more  dire,  which  are 
called  woes,  only  two  of  which,  however,  are  actually 
described.  The  first  is  an  irruption,  from  the  pit,  of 
horrible  supernatural  locusts,  which  are  permitted  to 
torment  men  for  a  limited  period,  stated  as  five 
months.  They  are  described  with  great  minuteness 
in  all  the  dreadful  combination  of  their  horrors.  The 
sixth  trumpet  is  followed  by  a  woe  still  more  tremen- 
dous. A  vast  army  of  supernatural  horsemen,  num- 
bering two  hundred  millions,  is  seen  to  emerge  from 
the  region  beyond  the  Euphrates  and  flow,  in  an  awful 
deluge  of  war,  over  the  rest  of  the  world.  Upon  the 
sounding  of  the  seventh  trumpet  we  are  again  in 
heaven  hearing  the  glad  tidings  that  "  the  kingdoms 
of  this  world  are  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord 
and  of  His  Christ." 

Now  the  question  at  once  arises,  Are  we  to  take 
these  dreadful  appearances  literally  or  symbolically? 
Everybody  acknowledges  in  a  general  way,  and  must 
acknowledge,  that  the  Apocalypse  is  a  book  of  sym- 
bols. But  here,  as  in  many  other  places,  many  would 
interpret  literally — that  is,  they  interpret  literally  as 
far  as  they  can,  and  abandon  a  literal  interpretation 
only  because  it  becomes  impossible  through  the  ex- 
traordinary character  of  the  symbols.  Thus  the  por- 
tents of  the  fifth  and  sixth  trumpets  are  such  as  to 


THE    FOUR   TRUMPETS.  77 

drive  any  literal  interpreter  to  distraction  ;  the  locusts 
and  the  horsemen  are  too  strange  to  permit  them  to 
be  regarded  as  actual  beings.  But  the  evils  of  the 
first  four  trumpets,  the  injury  done  to  the  earth,  the 
sea,  the  fountains,  and  the  heavenly  bodies,  can  be 
taken  with  more  or  less  literalness,  and  Alford  insists 
that  they  must  be.  He  thinks  that  these  four  trump- 
ets describe  judgments  inflicted  upon  the  ungodly 
"by  vitiating  and  destroying  the  ordinary  means  of 
subsistence,  and  comfort,  and  knowledge." 

What  such  literal  judgments  could  possibly  be  it  is 
quite  impossible  to  imagine.  Alford  has  not  ven- 
tu*«d  to  suggest,  except  regarding  the  third,  the  in- 
jury done  to  the  fountains,  that  it  may  possibly  consist 
in  the  turning  them  into  fire-water — i.e.,  ardent  spirit. 
The  word  "  knowledge1'  in  the  above  quotation  looks 
as  if  Alford  himself  might  have  dimly  conjectured 
that  the  heavenly  bodies  of  the  fourth  trumpet  might 
be  metaphorical,  the  sources  of  human  wisdom  rather 
than  the  material  sun,  moon,  and  stars. 

In  accordance  with  this  tendency  to  literal  inter- 
pretation, the  trumpets  are  regarded  as  trumpets  of 
judgment.  They  are  supposed  to  announce  judg- 
ments by  which  God  will  chastise  the  wicked  and  ad- 
vance His  kingdom.  In  this  view  the  key-note  of  the 
whole  book  is  the  prayer  of  the  martyr-souls  under 
the  altar,  as  described  in  the  fifth  chapter,  for  venge- 
ance upon  their  persecutors.  The  whole  book  be- 
comes an  account  of  the  temporal  judgments  visited 
upon  the  ungodly  in  answer  to  that  prayer.  We  are 
thus  taught  that  the  grand  means  by  which  God  is  to 
set  up  His  kingdom  upon  earth  is  the  inilicting  of 


78  THE   WOULD    LIGHTED. 

misery  upon  mankind.  The  last  book  of  the  Bible 
becomes  a  rehearsal  not  of  the  triumphs  of  the  Gospel, 
not  of  the  progress  of  truth  in  conquering  error,  not 
of  the  wonders  of  grace  and  mercy,  but  of  the  use  of 
physical  power  in  overwhelming  men  with  material 
misfortunes.  The  Apocalypse  thus  interpreted  be- 
comes the  description  of  a  protracted  Judgment  Day. 

It  is  impossible  to  deny  that  there  is  a  measure  of 
truth  in  these  views.  God  does  undoubtedly  accom- 
pany His  Word  with  such  exertions  of  physical  power 
as  are  needful,  and  His  "  terrible  things  in  righteous- 
ness" often  answer  the  prayers  of  His  people  for  help 
and  deliverance.  It  must  even  .be  admitted  that  in 
the  latter  part  of  this  book,  in  what  may  be  termed 
the  era  of  judgments,  these  providential  visitations 
upon  men  are  exhibited  as  the  crowning  evidence  by 
which  God  is  to  confirm  and  establish  His  Gospel. 
But  to  make  the  whole  book  a  description  of  almost 
nothing  else  than  judgments,  to  look  at  it  chiefly  from 
this  point  of  view,  is,  it  seems  to  me,  a  mistake  which 
must  quite  prevent  any  clear  and  satisfactory  concep- 
tion of  its  most  important  teachings. 

I  object  to  this  method  because  it  is  inconsistent 
with  itself,  continually  shifting  from  a  literal  to  a 
metaphorical  interpretation  as  its  necessities  compel  it. 
If  the  book  be  symbolic  it  is  symbolic  everywhere, 
and  everywhere  we  are  to  look  not  for  literal  state- 
ments, but  for  pictures  which  at  once  veil  and  suggest 
the  real  meaning.  I  object  because  this  method  makes 
both  the  prophecy  itself  and  God's  dealings  with  the 
world  unworthy  in  character.  I  cannot  believe  that 
a  prayer  for  vengeance  is  the  ruling  thought  of  this 


THE   FOUR  TRUMPETS.  79 

book  or  of  the  Church  of  the  latter  day,  still  less  of 
the  glorified  spirits  of  the  martyrs.  I  cannot  believe 
that  a  kingdem  of  light  and  truth  set  up,  in  the  first 
place,  and  carried  on  thus  far  mainly  by  the  preaching 
of  the  Gospel  and  by  the  power  of  love  and  goodness, 
is  to  be  considered  as  winning  its  principal  triumphs 
by  means  of  physical  force  and  temporal  judgments. 
I  cannot  think  that  the  key  to  the  Apocalypse  was 
hidden  obscurely  in  the  fifth  chapter  and  in  the  ac- 
count of  the  fifth  seal  instead  of  being  placed  where 
it  belonged,  in  the  very  door  of  the  building,  in  the 
introduction  of  the  prophecy.  It  does  not  seem  pos- 
sit>]e  that  the  opening  vision — that  of  the  divine  Sun, 
with  its  associate  stars  and  candlesticks — has  so  little 
significance  as  to  stand  at  the  head  of  an  account  of 
physical  judgments  rather  than  at  the  beginning  of 
the  story  of  the  world's  enlightenment.  For  all  these 
reasons  I  am  compelled  to  reject  this  scheme  of  inter- 
pretation, and  seek  for  a  better. 

What  necessity  is  there  for  considering  the  trumpets 
to  be  trumpets  of  judgment  ?  Is  there  no  other  idea- 
for  which  they  will  stand  ?  How  will  they  do  for 
symbols  of  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  f  Were  they 
not  such  in  the  days  when  the  priests  blew  the  silver 
trumpets  to  usher  in  the  glad  jubilee  year  ?  u  Blessed 
are  the  people,"  we  are  told,  "  who  know  the  joyful 
sound,"  by  which  I  suppose  to  be  meant  an  allusion 
to  those  same  silver  trumpets.  Taking  the  seven 
trumpets  of  the  Apocalypse  as  a  symbolic  preaching 
of  the  Gospel  by  the  angels,  we  get  an  idea  in  delight- 
ful harmony  with  my  conception  of  the  book,  and  are 
led  to  expect  information  of  something  which  is  to  be 


80  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

a  result  of  the  lighting  up  of  the  world  with  Christian 
knowledge. 

There  is  appropriateness  in  such  a  representation 
here.  The  opening  of  the  seals  I  have  explained  as 
the  removal  of  great  obstacles  to  the  progress  of  the 
truth.  That  is  the  negative  side  of  the  matter.  It  is 
appropriately  followed  by  a  description  of  the  positive 
proclamation  of  the  good  tidings  and  certain  results 
which  it  is  to  produce. 

That  these  results  should  seem  to  be  evil,  and  be  so 
exhibited,  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  is  portrayed  as  it  appears  to  men — i.e.,  the 
unregenerate,  unspiritual  world,  instead  of  the  spirit- 
ual Church,  which  is  qualified  to  see  these  results  in  a 
brighter  and  truer  light.  It  will  be  noticed  that  even 
the  final  triumph  over  which  heaven  rejoices,  and  of 
which  no  disastrous  phase  is  shown,  is  yet  called  a 
woe,  but  it  is  a  woe  only  to  those  who  are  emphatically 
and  purely  "  inhabitera  of  the  earth."  This  fact  may 
help  us  to  gain  the  point  of  view  from  which  to  see 
all  the  visions  of  the  trumpets  in  their  true  light,  as 
successes  and  advances  to  God's  cause,  and  as  woes 
only  to  its  adversaries.  What  is  "a  sword"  to  the 
opponents  of  the  Gospel  is  "  peace"  to  its  friends. 
The  same  truth  and  the  same  events  which  are  a 
"  savor  of  death"  to  one  party  are  a  "  savor  of  life" 
to  the  other  party.  The  path  to  a  nation's  freedom  is 
over  the  prostrate  forms  of  its  oppressors,  lit  by  the 
lurid  light  of  sacked  and  burning  palaces  and  blazing 
thrones.  And  in  like  manner  the  progress  of  the 
truth  in  the  world  is  to  be  seen  largely  by  the  destruc- 
tion which  it  works  ;  it  must  appear  to  all  who  do  not 


THE    FOUIl    TRUMPETS.  81 

understand  its  mission  only  as  some  ruthless  force, 
carrying  havoc  into  peaceful  scenes  and  overturning 
settled  order,  that  "  He  whose  right  it  is  may  reign." 

Having  adopted  this  idea  of  the  trumpets,  so  much 
more  agreeable  to  Christian  feeling  and  so  much  more 
harmonious  with  the  general  tenor  of  Inspiration,  we 
are  rewarded  at  once  by  a  further  harmony  of  the 
happiest  kind.  For  the  blowing  of  the  trumpets  is 
preceded  by  a  ceremony  of  the  burning  of  incense. 
The  incense  is  explained  as  that  which  adds  accept- 
ableness  to  the  prayers  of  "  all  the  saints."  This  cer- 
tamly  cannot  be  a  reference  to  the  cry  of  the  martyr- 
souls  for  vengeance  in  the  description  of  the  fifth  seal. 
It  is  a  broader  cry  than  that,  in  which  the  suppliant 
voices  of  all  saints  everywhere  unite.  Christ's 
churches  all  over  the  world  are  not  crying  for  venge- 
ance ;  they  never  did,  even  in  the  darkest  days  of 
persecution.  The  prayer  in  which  all  without  excep- 
tion join  must  be,  "  Thy  kingdom  come  !"  Chris- 
tians everywhere  and  always  pray  for  the  success  of 
the  Gospel.  We  are  here  reminded  that  the  Gospel 
wins  its  triumphs  when,  and  only  when,  it  is  accom- 
panied and  preceded  by  the  prayers  of  God's  people. 
The  seven  angels  are  riot  permitted  to  do  their  sym- 
bolic preaching  until  the  Church  has  prayed  and  the 
incense  has  been  offered.  An  idea  so  harmonious 
with  the  teaching  of  the  Scriptures  elsewhere  may 
well  encourage  us  that  our  interpretation  is  treading 
upon  firm  ground. 

There  is  nothing  to  conflict  with  our  idea  that  the 
sounding  of  the  seven  trumpets  is  a  symbolic  preach- 
ing of  the  Gospel  in  the  fact  that  all  the  woes  de- 


82  THE    WORLD   LIGHTED. 

scribed  come  from  above.  Surely  truth  comes  from 
above  and  Gospel  light,  as  well  as  judgments.  ' '  Every 
good  gift  and  every  perfect  boon  is  from  above,  com- 
ing down  from  the  Father  of  lights."  The  preaching 
of  the  Gospel,  in  all  the  various  ways  in  which  it  is 
done,  may  be  regarded  as  a  continual  descent  of 
heavenly  blessings.  Christ  ascended  on  high  in  order 
that  He  might  give  gifts  unto  men.  From  His  exalted 
seat  He  bestows  with  royal  hand  the  Holy  Spirit, 
apostles,  prophets,  evangelists,  pastors  and  teachers, 
and  all  the  spiritual  gifts  of  the  new  dispensation.  It 
is  the  down-pour  of  these  celestial  benefits  which 
causes  light  and  knowledge  and  goodness  to  increase 
in  the  earth. 

I  have  already  explained  the  fact  that  in  this  de- 
scription these  celestial  benefits  take  on  the  forbidding 
aspect  of  "  woes."  To  those  who  persistently  oppose 
and  reject  them  they  become  curses  instead  of  bless- 
ings. Even  to  those  who  finally  accept  the  Gospel  its 
first  aspect  is  ungracious  ;  it  has  to  wound  and  kill 
before  it  can  make  alive.  But  this  very  wounding 
and  killing  is  progress  toward  life  ;  after  the  weeping 
which  endures  for  a  night  "  joy  cometh  in  the  morn- 
ing ;"  the  very  wrath  of  the  persistent  opposer, 
and  the  misfortunes  which  he  draws  down  upon  his 
own  head,  God  makes  to  praise  Him  by  the  use  to 
which  He  puts  them  in  the  advancement  and  establish- 
ment of  His  blessed  cause  in  the  earth.  It  is  from 
the  elevation  obtained  by  such  considerations  that  we 
are  able  to  look  upon  the  smoke  of  the  great  moral 
battle  and  hear  the  shrieks  of  the  wounded  and  the 
dying  and  preserve  our  composure,  and  even  observe 


THE    FOUR   TRUMPETS.  83 

with  gladness  that  the  forces  of  evil  are  pressed  stead- 
ily back  toward  final  and  complete  discomfiture. 

So  much  being  offered  in  a  general  way,  let  me  now 
do  what  I  can  to  account  for  the  special  form  which 
is  given  to  the  results  here  ascribed  to  the  preaching 
of  the  Gospel. 

It  is  agreed  by  all  that  four  of  the  trumpets  have  a 
general  likeness,  and  should  be  considered  as  a  class  by 
themselves.  They  can  be  so  treated  by  regarding 
them  as  pictures  of  Christian  experience,  or,  indeed, 
of  an  experience  which  is  much  broader  than  the 
Christian,  inasmuch  as  great  numbers  share  the  con- 
victing and  condemning  work  of  the  truth  and  of  the 
Spirit  who  never  pass  on  to  its  happier  stages. 

The  first  trumpet  may  set  forth  the  inevitable  effect 
of  Gospel  truth  upon  the  mind  in  the  change  which  it 
produces  in  the  view  taken  of  earth  as  a  dwelling- 
place. 

The  ungodly  mind  regards  this  world  as  its  home. 
There  is  so  much  that  is  beautiful  and  pleasant  about 
the  world  that  this  is  not  difficult.  While  conscience 
yet  sleeps,  while  animal  delights  are  freely  enjoyed, 
there  is  nothing  to  prevent  the  mind  from  regarding 
earth  as  its  paradise.  But  the  Gospel  comes  to  dis- 
turb this  dream,  to  make  life  real,  and  earnest,  and 
solemn  because  responsible,  and  to  transfer  the  para- 
dise of  man  to  a  future  state  of  existence.  This  result 
is  not  unskilfully  depicted  in  the  effects  of  the  first 
trumpet.  What  happened  to  the  land  of  Egypt  in 
the  plague  of  hail  comes  upon  every  man's  land  when 
these  changes  of  sentiment  have  been  wrought  in  the 
mind.  It  is  as  if  hail,  fire,  and  blood  had  fallen  upon 


84  THE    WORLD   LIGHTED. 

the  earth  in  a  desolating  shower,  destroying  its  green 
grass  and  its  pleasant  trees.  What  are  more  impor- 
tant in  the  furnishing  of  earth  to  be  man's  dwelling- 
place  than  the  trees  and  the  green  grass  ?  A  man  is 
thoroughly  at  home  when  he  dwells  within  his  own 
smooth  lawn  and  under  his  own  vine  and  fig-tree.  If 
the  green  grass  and  the  shade-trees  and  fruit-trees 
should  be  destroyed  men  would  begin  to  look  for  some 
other  home.  And  thus  when  the  Gospel  has  suffi- 
ciently awakened  and  enlightened  the  mind  for  it  to 
see  earthly  things  as  they  arc,  it  forever  abandons  the 
plan  of  making  this  world  a  sensual  paradise,  and  takes 
up  its  staff  to  become  a  pilgrim  to  a  better  country. 

If,  however,  the  mind  should  still  cling  to  its  illu- 
sions and  seek  merely  to  escape  from  its  causes  of  dis- 
turbance by  some  intellectual  flight,  it  is  met  and 
harassed  by  the  truth  after  the  similitude  of  the  second 
trumpet.  Upon  the  sounding  of  this  trumpet  a  great 
disaster  is  represented  as  befalling  the  sea.  A  burn- 
ing mountain  falls  into  it,  turning  a  part  of  its  waters 
into  blood  and  destroying  its  shipping.  We  think  of 
the  sea  as  a  great  highway  used  by  flagrant  sinners  as 
a  means  of  escape  from  justice.  Across  the  sea  the 
prophet  Jonah  hoped  to  escape  from  God  and  from 
duty.  Such  attempts  may  vividly  illustrate  the  effort 
of  the  human  mind  everywhere  to  escape  from  the 
thought  of  God  and  the  consideration  of  its  great  re- 
sponsibilities. But  as  the  Gospel  is  preached  and 
heard  such  mental  flight  becomes  continually  more 
difficult.  It  is  as  if  the  plunge  of  a  fiery  volcano  into 
the  ocean  had  convulsed  it  so  as  to  render  navigation, 
to  the  sinner,  dangerous  and  well-nigh  impossible. 


THE    FOUR  TRUMPETS.  85 

The  ships  of  the  sinner  are  destroyed.  The  great 
ideas  of  the  Gospel  are  in  his  mind,  and  though  ho 
"  take  the  wings  of  the  morning  and  dwell  in  the 
uttermost  parts  of  the  sea,"  or  even  make  his  "  bed  in 
Sheol, "  God  is  there.  The  places  of  escape  and  refuge 
become  even  more  terrible  than  the  places  where  truth 
assails  him,  and  he  has  no  choice  but  to  stay  at  home. 
One  cannot  flee  from  the  divine  presence,  for  that 
presence  is  everywhere. 

Shut  up  thus  to  the  truth,  and  compelled  to  confront 
it,  the  soul  that  is  still  disobedient  experiences  a 
further  apparent  misfortune  symbolized  by  the  third 
ttfrmpet.  A -star  called  wormwood  falls  from  heaven 
and  embitters  the  springs  and  fountains  from  which 
men  drink.  What  can  this  be  but  the  coming  of  some 
truth  into  the  mind  to  make  bitter  its  sources  of  hap- 
piness and  refreshment  ?  "  Truth  held  in  unrighteous- 
ness" becomes  perverted  and  distorted,  and  yields  dis- 
tress and  injury  instead  of  comfort  and  help.  It  only 
needs  that  one  should  know  enough  about  material 
and  unholy  sources  of  enjoyment  to  make  them  very 
bitter  to  the  soul.  They  give  so  much  more  pain  than 
pleasure  that  the  mind  turns  from  them  in  disgust  and 
weariness.  But  the  sorest  punishment  which  befalls 
persistent  unbelief  is  that  good  and  true  means  of 
happiness  lose  all  power  to  charm,  and  become  only 
vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit.  To  a  disordered  nature 
everything  which  God  originally  contrived  for  man's 
enjoyment  is  without  relish,  or  even  nauseous  and 
revolting. 

The  climax  to  this  painful  experience  is  reached 
under  the  fourth  trumpet.  It  shows  the  sun,  moon, 


86  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

and  stars  smitten  so  as  to  be  partially  darkened.  The 
heavenly  bodies  have  been  taken  everywhere  in  this 
exposition  as  symbols  of  divine  illumination.  There 
is  no  reason  for  regarding  them  otherwise  here.  The 
extremity  of  human  distress  is  produced  when  the 
highest  means  of  good  become  means  of  evil  and 
causes  of  injury.  When  the  commandment  which 
was  ordained  to  life  proves  to  be  unto  death  ;  when 
the  Bible,  and  the  Saviour,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  be- 
come objects  of  terror  instead  of  comforters  ;  when 
the  sun  of  revelation,  and  the  moon  of  secular  learn- 
ing, and  the  stars  of  friendly  Christian  guidance  are 
darkened  and  refuse  to  give  their  light,  it  is  a  "  great 
and  terrible  day  of  the  Lord,"  in  which  sinners  are 
overwhelmed  with  consternation  and  sink  down  in 
despair.  This  is  a  continual  result  of  the  preaching 
of  the  Gospel,  and  through  it  as  a  preparation  we  pass 
into  a  condition  of  peace  and  joy.  All  confidence  in 
every  reliance  except  Christ  must  perish,  and  the  soul 
have  absolutely  no  resource  but  to  cast  itself  at  the 
foot  of  the  Cross  to  perish,  if  it  must  perish,  only 
there. 

Let  no  one  say  that  this  interpretation  of  the  four 
trumpets  is  unworthy  because  it  applies  them  to  an 
individual  experience.  One  "soul  is  worth  more  than 
the  whole  material  world,  and  the  phases  of  that 
mental  progress  by  which  the  Gospel  brings  a  soul  to 
Christ  are  worthy  to  be  delineated  by  the  sublimest 
imagery.  But  it  is  not  necessary  thus  to  confine  the 
application.  The  history  of  one  human  experience  is 
the  representative  of  many  ;  we  are  to  regard  the 
changes  of  mind  set  forth  by  the  four  trumpets  as 


THE   FOUR  TRUMPETS.  87 

occurring  in  many  minds,  wherever  the  Gospel  ex- 
tends. For  great  and  constantly-increasing  numbers 
of  men  is  it  true  that  the  green  earth  of  a  natural  life 
ceases,  under  the  dreadful  storm  of  Gospel  truth,  to 
be  the  paradise  that  it  was  ;  the  sea  of  thought  and 
imagination  is  no  longer  a  thoroughfare  of  escape 
from  conscience  after  the  terrible  mountain  of  burning 
truth  has  fallen  into  it  ;  the  sources  of  sensual  pleasure 
and  even  of  rational  delight  become  embittered  when 
the  wormwood  of  divine  accusation  is  mingled  with 
them,  and  even  the  very  orbs  of  religious  light  shine 
with  a  baleful  glare  when  they  shine  upon  the  head 
of^an  unpardoned,  unrepentiug  sinner.  These  experi- 
ences, so  sad  and  so  wretched,  are  the  very  steps  by 
which  great  multitudes  of  men  find  the  joy  of  a 
believer. 

Would  it  be  strange  if  what  takes  place  in  the  men- 
tal life  of  an  individual,  and  occurs  broadly  in  the 
experiences  of  many  of  the  same  generation,  should 
be  found  to  occur  also  through  great  epochs  of  his- 
tory, so  that  the  historical  student  shall  be  able  to 
discover  something  like  the  succession  of  the  four 
trumpets  in  successive  periods  of  the  Christian  era  ? 
It  is  not  at  all  strange.  The  education  and  progress 
of  the  world,  which  it  takes  many  centuries  to  accom- 
plish, resembles  the  education  and  progress  of  a  single 
soul,  which  is  effected  in  a  lifetime.  What  the  mental 
philosopher  sees  transpire  in  the  stages  of  an  indi- 
vidual mind,  the  historian  sees  take  place  as  the  human 
race  passes  from  a  more  youthful  and  inexperienced 
period  to  one  more  mature  and  well  informed. 

This  is  where  I  would  place  Dr.  Justin  A.  Smith's 


88  TUB    WOULD   LIGHTED. 

interpretation  of  the  four  trumpets.  He  looked  for 
their  historical  application,  and  found  it,  it  seems  to 
me,  with  remarkable  clearness.  The  period  of  the 
first  trumpet  he  considers  to  be  that  dreadful  time  in 
the  first  century  when  their  mad  opposition  to  Christ 
made  the  Jews  the  virtual  destroyers  of  their  own 
beloved  city  and  their  own  favored  land.  Out  of  that 
pleasant  land  they  went  by  thousands  to  drudge  as 
slaves  in  every  country.  The  Jew  has  been  a  home- 
less wanderer  ever  since. 

The  second  trumpet  Dr.  Smith  makes  to  be  the 
overthrow  of  the  Roman  Empire.  That  was,  indeed, 
an  event  worthy  to  be  represented  by  the  image  of  a 
burning  mountain  falling  into  the  sea.  It  was  chaos 
come  again,  a  mighty  disaster  in  one  way  and  as 
mighty  a  benefit  to  the  world  in  another.  No  doubt 
Christianity  had  much  to  do  with  that  overthrow  ;  it 
was  necessary  that  the  kingdom  of  iron  should  give 
way  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  might  take  its  place. 
"  The  stone  smote  the  image  upon  its  feet,  and  brake 
them  to  pieces." 

The  third  trumpet  Dr.  Smith  considers  to  be  the 
heretical  teaching  by  which  the  truth- was  so  perverted 
in  the  first  Christian  centuries.  Nothing  could  fit  the 
symbolism  better.  A  star  failing  from  heaven  and 
becoming  wormwood,  and  embittering  streams  and 
fountains,  is  a  fit  image  of  truth  losing  its  correctness 
and  poisoning  the  life  of  those  who  had  received  it. 
The  mischief  thereby  done  is  immeasurable,  but  the 
benefit  to  the  cause  of  Christ  is  also  immeasurable. 
It  was  necessary  that  truth  and  error  should  thus  grap- 
ple and  be  in  deadly  conflict,  for  the  superiority  of  the 


TIII:  FOTH  TiirMiT/rs.  W) 

truth  to  become  manifest.  Pilate's  question,  "  What 
is  truth  ?"  could  never  be  fully  answered  in  any  other 
way.  We  know  now  what  is  truth  because  we  know 
what  is  not  truth.  Having  tasted  the  bitter  fountains, 
we  know  which  are  the  sweet. 

Finally,  Dr.  Smith's  fourth  trumpet  is  the  Dark 
Ages.  One  has  only  to  hear  the  name  to  feel  the  fit- 
ness of  the  figure.  The  heavenly  bodies  are  not  rep- 
resented as  wholly  but  only  as  partially  eclipsed,  and 
yet  even  a  partial  eclipse  makes  the  earth  a  dreary 
place.  The  obscuration  of  truth  during  the  Dark 
Ages  was  dreadful.  The  great  dignitaries  of  the 
Romish  Church  were  ignorant  and  often  infidel.  The 
priests  and  monks  made  a  jest  of  their  callings.  The 
people  knew  only  what  filtered  to  them  through  these 
gross  mediums.  But  the  way  to  something  better  lay 
through  all  this  darkness,  and  having  suffered  this 
nightmare  once,  it  may  be  hoped  the  world  will  never 
have  to  suffer  it  again. 


VIII. 

THE    FIFTH    AND    SIXTH    TEDMPET8. 

THE  results  of  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  symbol- 
ized by  the  four  trumpets  are  of  a  similar  character, 
and  are  evidently  intended  to  be  regarded  as  a  whole. 
The  results  of  the  following  trumpets  are  of  quite  a 
different  kind,  and  are  described  with  so  much  elabo- 
rateness of  detail  that  the  entire  ninth  chapter  of  the 
Apocalypse  is  occupied  with  the  fifth  and  sixth  trump- 
ets. An  account  of  the  seventh  trumpet  is  deferred 
until  the  close  of  the  eleventh  chapter. 

There  is  a  similarity  between  the  descriptions  of  the 
fifth  and  sixth  trumpets  which  makes  it  proper  that 
they  should  be  treated  together.  My  idea  of  their 
significance  is  that  they  relate  to  two  classes  of  oppo- 
nents of  the  Gospel  which  its  spread  unwittingly  but 
inevitably  produces. 

The  first  class  is  represented  by  swarms  of  super- 
natural locusts,  which  come  up  out  of  the  bottomless 
pit  to  do  their  bad  work  in  the  world.  These  swarms 
are  let  out  of  the  abyss  by  a  fallen  star — that  is,  by  a 
fallen  angel,  to  whom  is  given  the  key  of  that  abode 
of  evil,  and  who  uses  it  to  let  that  evil  loose  upon 
mankind.  First  rises  from  the  pit  a  dense  volume 
of  smoke,  which  darkens  the  sun  and  the  air,  and  then 
appear  prodigious  locusts — locusts  like  war-horses,  with 
crowns  of  gold,  human  faces,  woman's  hair,  lion's 


THE    FIFTH    AND    SIXTH    TRUMPETS.  91 

teeth,  iron  breastplates,  wings,  and  tails  like  scorpions. 
Their  power  to  hurt  is  said  to  be  in  their  tails  ;  the 
time  of  their  prevalence  is  five  months  ;  and  they 
have  a  king  over  them  whose  name  is  Apolljon,  which 
is  the  Old  Testament  term  for  perdition. 

With  regard  to  these  locusts,  Alford  says,  "  There 
is  an  endless  Babel  of  allegorical  and  historical  inter- 
pretations of  these  locusts  from  the  pit.  "The  most 
that  we  can  say  of  their  import  is  that  they  belong  to 
a  series  of  judgments  on  the  ungodly,  which  will  im- 
mediately precede  the  second  advent  of  the  Lord  ; 
that  the  various  and  mysterious  particulars  of  the 
vj.ak>ri  will,  no  doubt,  clear  themselves  up  to  the 
Church  of  God  when  the  time  of  its  fulfilment  arrives  ; 
but  that  no  such  clearing  has  yet  taken  place  a  very 
few  hours'  research  among  histories  of  Apocalyptic 
interpretation  will  serve  to  convince  any  reader  who 
is  not  himself  the  servant  of  a  preconceived  system." 

Notwithstanding  this  unfavorable  augury  of  the  suc- 
cess of  any  attempt  to  open  this  passage  I  shall  make 
the  venture,  believing  that  the  materials  for  such  a 
venture  have  already  been  provided  by  others.  It  is 
certainly  possible  to  point  out  many  remarkable  coin- 
cidences between  these  descriptions  and  facts  which 
have  already  occurred,  the  perception  of  which  must 
cause  us  to  doubt  the  correctness  of  Alford's  opinion 
that  it  still  remains  for  the  future  to  disclose  the 
meaning  of  these  prophecies. 

There  has  always  been  a  strong  disposition  to  recog- 
nize the  historical  prototypes  of  these  strange  locusts 
in  the  Saracens,  the  followers  of  Mohammed.  Like 
the  locusts  of  Egypt,  these  Saracens  swarmed  over 


02  THE   WORLD    LIGHTED. 

upon  the  world  from  Arabia.  Like  the  locusts  of 
Egypt,  they  settled  upon  large  portions  of  the  Chris- 
tianized earth  and  reduced  it  to  its  original  desolation. 
It  seems  to  me  that  while  we  may  not  say  that  these 
alone,  exclusive  of  other  like  enemies  of  the  Gospel, 
are  meant,  we  may  say  that  the  locusts  of  this  passage 
are  intended  to  represent  a  class  of  which  the  Saracens 
are  the  most  prominent  example. 

Mohammedanism  is  now  generally  regarded  as  a 
Christian  heresy  rather  than  as  an  original  and  inde- 
pendent religion.  It  is  as  truly  such  as  Romanism, 
differing  from  it  not  in  kind,  but  only  in  the  degree  in 
which  it  mingles  Christian  truth  with  pagan  error.  It 
is  well  known  that  Mohammed  had  a  dim  and  con- 
fused idea  both  of  Judaism  and  of  Christianity,  and  that 
he  borrowed  and  corrupted  what  he  knew  of  both  sys- 
tems. What  could  more  fitly  represent  this  fact  than 
a  star  falling  from  heaven,  an  angel  shooting  from  his 
celestial  sphere  and  becoming  the  opener  of  the  bot- 
tomless pit  ?  The  half  truth  contained  in  their  new 
religion  was  just  the  impetus  needed  to  arouse  the 
latent  forces  in  the  hearts  of  the  Arabians,  and  pre- 
cipitate them  in  a  fiery  deluge  upon  the  Christian 
world.  It  is  inevitable  that  the  Gospel  should  be  mis- 
understood and  incorrectly  reported  by  human  igno- 
rance and  perverseness,  and  that  such  misunderstanding 
and  perversion  should  become  the  most  tremendous 
opposition  to  the  Christianity  from  which  indirectly 
it  has  its  derivation.  Thus  has  it  been  with  Moslem- 
ism,  and  for  centuries  it  settled  upon  and  ravaged  the 
fairest  parts  of  Christendom,  and  still  continues  its 
ravages. 


THE    FIFTH    AND    SIXTH    TRUMPETS.  t'3 

Parts,  at  least,  of  the  description  of  these  monstrous 
locusts  are  strikingly  suggestive  of  Moslem  peculiari- 
ties. The  locusts  are  like  war-horses,  and  the  Mos- 
lems have  always  been  notable  for  the  grace  and  power 
of  their  cavalry.  The  Arab  is  most  at  home  and  most 
terrible  as  a  warrior  when  in  the  saddle.  The  golden 
crowns,  the  human  faces,  the  woman's  hair,  the  lion's 
teeth,  the  breastplates,  the  wings,  are  all  not  inap- 
propriate descriptions  of  that  strange  people,  whose 
fierceness  and  success  in  war  is  not  more  remarkable 
than  their  feminine  love  of  luxury  and  splendor,  and 
their  rapid  progress  in  art  and  civilization.  That  the 
Iptmsts  have -Apollyon  for' their  king  may  well  set 
forth  the  fact  that  the  Moslems  have  been  organized 
and  led  by  great  kings  and  generals,  whose  genius  for 
war  and  government  could  scarcely  have  been  greater 
if  they  had  really  been  diabolical. 

One  other  item  of  the  description  calls  for  special 
notice.  The  hurtful  power  of  the  locusts  is  located  in 
their  scorpion-like  tails.  In  the  vision  which  follows 
the  very  opposite  statement  is  made — that  the  situation 
of  hurtful  power  is  in  the  heads  of  the  creatures  de- 
scribed— a  contrast  which  must  have  special  signifi- 
cance. Its  force  seems  to  be  that  the  Saracenic  en- 
mity to  Christianity  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  eminently 
intellectual.  The  fact  is,  that  Moslemism  was  spread 
not  by  conviction,  but  by  force  ;  not  by  the  power  of 
ideas  so  much  as  by  the  power  of  the  sword. 

So  many  points  of  agreement  between  these  strange 
symbols  and  the  form  of  error  to  which  I  have  re- 
ferred can  hardly  be  accidental  coincidences.  With- 
out pressing  them  it  is  safe  to  say  that  in  this  passage 


94  THE   WORLD    LIGHTED. 

Inspiration  probably  had  in  view  all  that  class  of  anti- 
Christian  opposition  of  which  Moslemism  is  a  chief 
example.  The  truth,  from  both  Jewish  and  Christian 
sources,  which  has  been  vaguely  reported  in  heathen 
ears  and  mixed  with  an  overpowering  quantity  of 
heathen  superstitions  has  darkened  the  world  like 
swarms  of  locusts  from  the  abyss,  and  blighted  wide 
regions  where  once  the  Gospel  had  been  known  in  its 
purity.  It  can  hardly  be  thought  probable  that  a 
prophetic  book  intended  to  foreshadow  the  future  of 
Christianity  from  the  first  century  to  the  end  of  the 
world  could  have  left  out  of  sight  either  Moslemism 
or  the  class  of  delusions  to  which  it  belongs.  In  that 
class  Romanism  must  be  placed,  for  it  clearly  comes 
under  the  description  given.  If  it  be  thought  strange 
that  the  peculiarities  of  that  description  are  not  such 
as  to  indicate  Romanism  rather  than  Moslemism,  I 
may  reply  that  elsewhere  the  papacy  receives  extended 
notice,  while  if  we  consider  either  the  widespread 
havoc  wrought  by  the  religion  of  M.ohammed,  the 
prodigies  of  its  history,  or  the  vast  extent  of  its  pres- 
ent empire,  we  cannot  think  it  could  possibly  have 
been  quite  omitted  from  the  prophecies  of  the  Apoc- 


But  the  next  vision  is  even  more  appalling.  It  is 
ushered  in  by  expressions  of  unusual  apprehension. 
Upon  the  sounding  of  the  sixth  trumpet  a  voice  is 
heard  from  the  horns  of  the  golden  altar  commanding 
to  loose  the  four  angels  bound  in  the  great  river 
Euphrates.  The  loosing  of  these  angels  is  said  to  be 
accurately  determined  as  to  the  year  and  the  month, 
and  even  the  day  and  .the  hour.  They  are  no  sooner 


THE   FIFTH    AND   SIXTH   TRUMPETS.  95 

loosed  than  they  turn  to  a  mighty  army  two  hundred 
millions  strong — an  army  of  horsemen  who  wear  breast- 
plates which  appear  red,  and  blue,  and  yellow.  The 
horses  have  the  heads  of  lions,- out  of  whose  mouths 
pour  fire,  and  smoke,  and  brimstone.  These  volcanic 
mouths  are  fearfully  destructive,  but  these  horrible 
horses  have  the  power  to  hurt  with  their  tails  also. 
Their  tails  are  like  serpents  with  heads,  so  that  a  lion's 
head  kills  at  one  end  of  each  horse's  body,  and  a  ser- 
pent's head  hurts  at  the  other  end.  The  extent  of  the 
destruction  produced  by  this  strange  army  amounts  to 
so  much  as  a  third  part  of  men. 

*~What  we  are  to  understand  by  this  description  Al- 
ford  ventures  no  suggestion  of,  except  in  the  inost 
general  way.  He,  however,  defends  the  propriety  of 
taking  the  geographical  designation  ("  at  the  great 
river  Euphrates")  literally,  even  though  all  beside 
must  be  considered  mystical.  He  compares  with  it 
the  allegorical  passage,  "  Thou  hast  brought  a  vine 
out  of  Egypt,"  in  which,  although  "  vine"  is  to  be 
understood  allegorically  of  the  Hebrew  nation, 
"  Egypt' y  is  a  location  to  be  literally  taken.  We  are 
under  obligation  to  Alford  for  settling  for  us  at  least 
so  much  about  this  vision,  that  its  territorial  situation 
is  in  the  region  of  the  river  Euphrates. 

Beyond  that  historic  river  lies  that  vast  hive  of  na- 
tions toward  which  the  civilized  world  has  but  lately 
begun  to  look  with  the  gravest  apprehensions.  The 
foremost  squadrons  of  the  mighty  army  capable  of 
being  recruited  there,  to  the  number  of  two  hundred 
millions,  have  already  arrived  in  the  United  States, 
and  inspired  such  fear  that  a  barrier  has  been  raised 


93  THE    WORLD   LIGHTED. 

by  law  to  keep  their  main  host  out  of  the  country. 
The  danger  distinctly  seen  by  even  the  less  thought- 
ful is  that  the  swarming  myriads  of  Eastern  Asia  will 
pour  over  the  lands  and  nations  of  the  West,  and  re- 
duce the  better  conditions  of  the  more  enlightened  of 
mankind  to  their  own  low  level.  These  fears  are 
largely  for  material  good  and  selfish  advantage,  but 
the  nobler  part  of  the  Western  world  has  fears  of  a 
nobler  kind.  The  Church  fears  that  China  and  India 
will  deluge  Christendom  with  pagan  ideas,  and  thus 
overthrow  every  vestige  'of  Christian  institutions. 

Such  fears  would  be  in  the  highest  degree  reason- 
able had  not  the  Bible  furnished  us  with  counter- 
assurances,  and  especially  here  with  a  sufficient  warn- 
ing of  the  evil  and  a  prediction  of  its  limitations. 
We  are  not  permitted  to  think  that  it  has  gathered 
its  awful  force  and  is  to  break  loose  upon  its  destruc- 
tive mission  without  divine  knowledge  and  divine 
appointment,  and  being  under  divine  control.  We 
are  particularly  assured  that  it  conies  upon  the  world 
at  the  very  instant  intended,  and  at  the  bidding  of  the 
voice  which  speaks  from  the  horns  of  the  golden 
altar.  Is  not  that  golden  altar  the  altar  of  prayer,  and 
must  not  the  voice  which  issues  from  it  be  the  voice 
of  God  in  answer  to  the  prayers  of  His  people  ?  We 
must  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  this  dreaded  human 
irruption  is,  lirst  of  all,  the  loosing  of  the  angels  who 
are  to  fly  to  bear  the  divine  message  to  the  four  quar- 
ters of  the  earth.  Christ  can  never  have  His  own 
while  such  a  large  part  of  the  human  race  remain  shut 
up  and  shut  away  from  the  influences  which  revolu- 
tionize character  elsewhere. 


TITE    FIFTH    AND    SIXTH    TRUMPETS.  97 

There  is,  then,  something  divine  and  angelic  about 
this  pagan  flood  of  which  we  are  so  afraid.  It  is  the 
inevitable  result  of  the  principles  and  preaching  of  the 
Gospel,  that  the  walls  which  have  so  long  separated  the 
Eastern  nations  from  the  rest  of  the  race  should  bo 
broken  down,  so  that  the  peoples  of  the  earth  shall 
flow  together  as  one  mighty  sea.  The  result  at  last 
will  be  the  grand  brotherhood  of  mankind,  but  for  a 
time  it  will  prove  disastrous  to  many  human  souls. 
Though  it  is  the  loosing  of  the  angels  who  stand  for 
the  welfare  of  the  whole  human  race,  as  their  number 
(four)  betokens,  for  a  time  it  may  appear  only  like  the 
irferch  of  a  resistless  army  of  enemies  to  ravage  and 
destroy  the  whole  earth. 

It  may,  perhaps,  seem  a  doubtful  identification  to 
see  in  the  colors  (red,  blue,  and  yellow)  of  the  breast- 
plates of  the  horsemen  the  recognition  of  that  love  of 
gaudy  hues  which  characterizes  barbaric  nations,  and 
of  which  we  are  reminded  by.  our  tea  stores  as  well  as 
by  the  robes  of  Oriental  ambassadors.  If  it  was 
worthy  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  speak  of  the  colors  at 
all,  it  is  not  unworthy  of  an  interpreter  to  try  to  find 
some  meaning  in  them.  One  remembers  also  that 
red,  blue,  and  yellow  are  the  three  prismatic  colors 
which,  united,  compose  that  pure  white  light  in  which 
objects  are  seen  clearly,  but  which,  separated  from 
one  another,  deceive  the  eye  and  confuse  the  under- 
standing. In  this  way  the  fact  may  be  symbolized 
that  the  power  of  Oriental  nations  to  resist  the  trutjj 
is  in  those  distorted  and  false  ideas  which  they  already 
have.  Certain  it  is  that  we  do  not  err  in  making 
much  of  the  fact  that  the  power  of  these  horsemen  to 


98  THE   WORLD    LIGHTED. 

hurt  is  in  their  heads.  We  have  already  seen  the 
probable  significance  of  the  fact  that  the  locusts  do 
their  mischief  by  means  of  the  stings  situated  in  their 
tails.  Mohammedanism  is  not  credited  with  very 
much  mental  power.  But  not  so  with  the  Oriental 
peoples.  They  are  represented  as  tkree-lie&ded,  like 
the  Cerberus  of  the  ancients.  Each  horseman  must 
be  supposed  to  have  a  head  of  his  own,  a  human  head, 
while  each  horse  has  a  lion's  head  and  also  a  serpent's 
head  at  the  end  of  his  tail.  Such  an  exuberance  of 
heads  is  very  striking.  It  must  be  that  in  this  way  it 
is  intended  to  suggest  the  remarkable  intellectuality 
of  the  Eastern  nations. 

They  are,  indeed,  keen  and  subtle  in  intellect,  and 
they  have  philosophies,  and  theologies,  and  cosmog- 
onies of  the  most  elaborate  and  pretentious  sort.  So 
formidable  are  they  as  antagonists  in  debate,  that  mis- 
sionaries among  them  need  to  be  trained  and  highly 
accomplished  disputants  in  order  to  contend  success- 
fully with  them.  It  is  well  known  that  poets,  and 
novelists,  and  scholars  of  the  Western  nations  are  fast 
importing  the  ideas  of  the  East,  claiming  that  in  these 
are  to  be  found  a  higher  wisdom  and  a  better  gospel. 
This  is  the  real  light  between  Orientalism  and  Occi- 
dentalism ;  this  is  the  great  invasion  of  the  East  into 
the  Christianized  West.  While  it  is  to  be  feared,  and 
even  expected,  that  many  minds  will  be  paganized  and 
many  souls  destroyed,  the  end  is  not  doubtful.  It  is 
as  certain  that  Christianity  will  conquer  as  it  is  that  it 
has  already  conquered  on  every  kind  of  battle-field, 
and  that  it  has  the  power  of  God's  own  truth. 


THE   VISION    OF    THE    TRUTH. 


THE  traveller  through  dark  and  difficult  paths,  in 
which  his  way  is  much  of  the  time  doubtful,  is  re- 
assured if  at  intervals  he  catches  sight  of  the  sun,  or 
of  the  stars,  or  of  earthly  way-marks  by  which  the 
correctness  of  his  course  is  made  certain.  Thus  may 
we~"rejoice  and  take  fresh  courage  at  this  stage  in  our 
perplexed  journey  of  interpretation,  at  beholding  the 
vision  in  the  tenth  chapter  of  the  Apocalypse.  The 
clouds  break  away  and  we  see  once  more  the  familiar 
face  of  that  sun  whose  cheering  beams  gave  the  light 
which  shone  upon  our  original  starting-point. 

For  such  substantially  is  the  vision  of  another 
mighty  angel  now  described  as  coming  down  from 
heaven  with  a  cloud  for  his  mantle,  a  rainbow  about 
his  head,  his  face  like  the  sun,  his  feet  like  pillars  of 
fire,  a  little  book  open  in  his  hand,  and  standing 
majestically  with  his  right  foot  upon  the  sea  and  his 
left  foot  upon  the  earth.  Surely  it  is  not  difficult  to 
understand  the  meaning  of  this  magnificent  figure. 
Xot  exactly  identical  with  either  of  the  previous  repre- 
sentations of  the  great  spiritual  sun  of  the  universe,  it 
yet  so  combines  the  previous  with  new  features  as  to 
suggest  to  our  minds  just  the  facts  which  are  needed 
for  our  comfort  and  encouragement  at  this  point  in 
the  prophecy. 


100  THE    WORLD   LIGHTED. 

Let  us  see  where  we  are.  Six  out  of  seven  of  the 
trumpets  which  symbolize  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel 
have  now  been  sounded.  We  cannot  be  far  from  the 
grand  consummation.  But  we  have  had  two  terrific 
descriptions  of  mighty  armies  of  foes  whom  the  very 
progress  of  the  Gospel  itself  must  inevitably  raise 
against  it.  Against  these  swarms  of  human  locusts, 
against  these  hundreds  of  millions  of  Oriental  horse- 
men, what  power  can  stand  ?  How  can  it  be  possible 
that  light  and  truth  are  to  conquer  so  much  error  and 
darkness  ?  The  answer  is  this  new  vision  of  the  truth 
in  such  beauty  and  grandeur  as  to  light  up  the  gloom 
of  the  prophecy  and  dispel  its  alarming  sugges- 
tions. Thus,  we  are  taught,  in  the  day  prefigured 
by  the  prophecy,  the  truth  is  to  overcome  its  myriad 
enemies  and  accomplish  its  remaining  task  in  the 
world. 

I  consider,  then,  the  mighty  angel  of  the  tenth 
chapter  as  a  beautiful  symbolic  representation  of  the 
sublime  situation  which  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord 
will  have  attained,  even  while  menaced  by  the  myrmi- 
dons of  ignorance  and  error  in  the  last  days. 

Notice  with  what  care  and  skill  the  symbols  of  pre- 
vious chapters  are  here  united  to  show  the  identity  of 
this  with  those.  This  mighty  angel  is  clothed  with  a 
cloud,  which  revives  the  recollection  of  the  Son  of 
man  in  the  prophecy  of  Daniel  as  well  as  of  the  Son 
of  man  in  the  first  chapter  of  this  book.  In  both 
cases  the  coming  seen  was  in  the  clouds  of  heaven, 
and  the  meaning  of  the  appearance  was  that  the  king- 
dom was  to  be  a  heavenly  one  from  above  rather  than 
below.  To  this  revelation  was  added  by  the  vision  of 


THE   VISION   OF  THE   TRUTH.  101 

the  Son  of  man  in  the  first  chapter,  that  the  kingdom 
was  to  be  one  of  light.  That  was  what  the  sun,  the 
stars,  and  the  candlesticks  signified.  The  face  of  this 
angel  renews  that  teaching,  for  it  is  like  the  sun. 
Then  there  is  a  rainbow  round  about  his  head  like  that 
around  the  throne  in  the  vision  of  heaven.  In  that 
vision  there  was  a  book — the  symbol  of  the  communi- 
cation of  truth — in  the  hand  of  the  Father,  and  here 
the  mighty  angel  has  a  little  book  open  in  his  hand. 
It  is  a  little  book,  and  it  is  open  to  show  that  now,  after 
so  many  seals  have  been  broken  and  so  many  trumpets 
have  been  sounded,  the  task  of  the  truth  in  the  world 
i^eomparatively  small  and  comparatively  easy.  We 
have  thus  combined  just  the  symbols  which  are  appro- 
priate to  represent  the  situation  of  great  power  which 
the  truth  will  have  attained  at  that  advanced  stage  of 
the  world's  progress  which  the  prophecy  has  now 
reached. 

This  mighty  angel  stands  with  one  foot  on  the  sea 
and  the  other  on  the  earth.  What  is  this  but  a  posi- 
tion of  universal  sovereignty?  When  he  "speaks  it  is 
as  with  the  voice  of  a  God,  for  seven  thunders  are  heard, 
and  the  thunder  is  God's  voice.  When  God  spoke  to 
His  Son  the  people  said  that  it  thundered.  The  angel 
lifts  up  his  hand  to  heaven  and  swears  by  the  eternal 
Creator  that  delay  shall  be  no  longer,  and  that  one 
more  gospel  trumpet  shall  finish  the  mystery  of  God 
according  to  the  good  tidings  which  He  declared  to 
His  servants,  the  prophets.  What  can  be  implied  by 
all  this  but  the  entire  removal  of  that  veil  which  has 
been  spread  over  the  minds  of  all  people  ?  We  have 
now  reached  a  point  in  the  development  of  the  king- 


103  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

dom  of  heaven  when  the  end  is  in  sight.  Truth  has 
PO  nearly  completed  its  conquests  that  victory  is  as- 
sured. Its  reign  has  become  so  nearly  universal,  its 
principles  are  so  widely  accepted  and  understood,  that 
the  moment  of  its  complete  ascendancy  seems  near  at 
hand,  and  the  task  of  removing  earth's  remaining  error 
comparatively  small.  It  is  as  if  the  godlike  figure  of 
this  chapter  were  actually  visible  to  mankind  and  the 
vast  majority  of  human  beings  prostrate  in  adoration 
and  submission. 

The  means  by  which  the  final  clearing  up  of  human 
perplexity  is  to  be  effected  is  the  remaining  fact  of 
this  chapter.  As  in  the  former  scene  it  is  the  Lamb 
who  takes  the  sealed  book  from  the  hand  of  the 
Father  and  is  hailed  as  the  agent  of  its  publication  to 
mankind,  so  here  it  is  the  prophet  who  receives  the 
little  book  from  the  angel.  The  agency  of  the  Church 
in  the  enlightenment  of  the  race  in  the  last  days  is 
thus  emphasized.  More  and  more  must  the  children 
of  God  share  with  their  Master  His  blessed  conquests. 
The  kingdom  and  the  greatness  of  the  kingdom  is  to 
be  given  to  the  saints  of  the  Most  High.  Out  of 
Zion,  the  perfection  of  beauty,  God  is  to  shine.  They 
who  have  themselves  been  first  taught  of  God  are  to 
be  the  teachers  of  the  nations. 

An  interesting  distinction  is  here  made  between  the 
communicable  and  the  incommunicable  knowledge  of 
a  Christian.  Every  Christian  knows  far  more  than  he 
can  impart  or  than  it  is  proper  to  communicate  to 
others.  That  which  was  uttered  by  the  seven  thun- 
ders the  prophet  seems  to  have  understood,  and  would 
have  published  it  had  he  not  been  restrained.  He 


THE   VISION    OF   THE  TRUTH.  103 

was  told  not  to  write  it,  but  to  seal  it  up  ;  like  that 
which  Paul  saw  in  the  third  heavens,  it  was  not  law- 
ful to  be  uttered.  On  the  other  hand,  he  was  invited 
to  take  the  book  and  to  make  it  his  own  by  (mentally) 
devouring  it,  and  then  he  was  given  to  understand 
that  he  was  to  '*  prophesy  again  over  many  peoples, 
and  nations,  and  tongues,  and  kings."  Thus  widely 
was  he  to  make  known  what  he  had  received  from  the 
little  book  and  what  had  become  to  Lim  a  matter  of 
both  sweet  and  bitter  experience.  Thus  is  the  world 
to  be  thoroughly  evangelized  in  the  last  days.  Its 
preachers  will  speak  out  of  a  profound  knowledge  of 
^*ed.  As  the  mountains  rest  upon  foundations  buried 
deep  in  the  earth,  so  their  proclamations  of  truth  will 
leave  unspoken  more  than  they  express.  Was  it  not 
thus  with  Jesus?  Did  He  not  often  imply  that  He 
had  left  unsaid  more  than  He  had  uttered  ? 

But  the  message  that  is  uttered  in  the  last  days  will 
be  eminently  a  message  which  comes  from  a  thorough 
experience  of  its  truth.  It  will  be  no  hearsay  Gospel, 
like  that  of  the  seven  sons  of  Sceva,  "  We  adjure  you 
by  Jesus,  whom  Paul  preacheth."  There  is  too  much 
of  that  sort  of  preaching,  and  it  is  worth  very  little. 
The  world  can  never  be  converted  to  God  by  such 
preaching.  The  preachers  of  the  latter  day  cannot 
possibly  be  of  that  sort.  They  must  be  such  men  as 
are  here  described,  who  have  so  eaten  and  digested 
the  great  doctrines  of  revelation  that  those  doctrines 
have  passed  into  their  spiritual  circulation  and  affected 
every  part  of  their  natures.  They  must  be  men  who 
know  thoroughly  both  the  sweetness  and  the  bitter- 
ness of  the  facts  of  life,  and  who  can  speak  to  their 


104  THE   WOULD   LIGHTED. 

fellow-men  out  of  a  sympathetic  realization  of  what 
the  truth  must  be  to  all  who  receive  it.  When  the 
world  enjoys  such  preaching,  the  preaching  of  pro- 
found knowledge  and  of  personal  experience,  the  end 
will  not  be  far  off. 


X. 

THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  WOULD. 

Is  it  not  just  what  we  might  expect  at  this  point  of 
the  prophetic  narrative  to  have  our  attention  called  to 
the  condition  and  magnitude  of  the  Church  ?  Up  to 
this  point  nothing  has  been  directly  said  about  it. 
Six  of  the  trumpets  which  represent  the  preaching  of 
the  Gospel  to  the  world  have  been  sounded  ;  we  have 
be"en  shown  the  effects  of  that  preaching  upon  the 
human  mind,  and  in  stirring  up  against  itself  different 
classes  of  opposers  ;  the  end  is  evidently  near,  and 
surely  it  is  time  that  the  relative  situations  of  the 
Church  and  of  the  world  should  be  shown. 

Accordingly  the  Apocalyptist  now  receives  a  measur- 
ing-rod, and  is  told  to  "  rise,  and  measure  the  temple 
of  God,  and  the  altar,  and  them  that  worship  therein. 
But  the  court  which  is  without  the  temple  leave  out, 
and  measure  it  not ;  for  it  is  given  unto  the  Gentiles  : 
and  the  holy  city  shall  they  tread  under  foot  forty  and 
two  months." 

In  this  picture  we  have  the  well-known  features  of 
ancient  Jerusalem  used  to  portray  the  condition  of  the 
Church  in  the  world  far  on  toward  the  great  consum- 
mation. Let  us  not  be  discouraged  ;  let  us  rather  be 
encouraged  when  we  find  it  substantially  the  situation 
at  the  present  time.  The  different  degrees  of  cere- 
monial sanctity  which  attached  to  the  Jewish  temple, 


10G  THE    WOULD    LIGHTED. 

with  its  altar  and  priests,  the  court  which  surrounded 
it,  and  finally  to  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  are  here  used 
to  picture  the  condition  of  the  Church  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  era  represented  by  the  sixth  trumpet. 
The  temple  itself  was  too  holy  for  any  but  the  priests 
to  enter  ;  Gentiles  might  enter  the  court,  and  yet  it 
was  regarded  as  a  sacred  place,  while  the  whole  citj% 
though  open  to  all  kinds  of  strangers  and  given  up  to 
all  the  common  uses  of  life,  was  yet  the  lioly  city, 
because  in  it  the  temple  of  Jehovah  stood,  and  com- 
pared with  other  cities  it  was  a  sacred  city. 

In  like  manner  we  are  now  bidden  to  regard  the 
world.  The  process  of  its  enlightenment  has  now 
gone  so  far  that  it  may  all  be  regarded  as  a  holy  city. 
True,  good  is  not  everywhere  appreciated  ;  there  are 
yet  many  human  swine  who  tread  the  pearls  of  truth 
under  their  feet.  But  there  is  a  temple — that  is  to 
say,  a  church — in  the  world,  whose  worship  is  pure 
and  whose  dimensions  are  great.  For  this  must  be 
what  is  meant  by  the  direction  to  measure  the  temple, 
and  the  altar,  and  them  that  worship  therein.  It  is  a 
challenge  to  notice  the  magnitude  of  the  proportions 
which  the  Church  has  now  reached,  and  its  vast  and 
growing  influence  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
prohibition  to  measure  the  court  or  the  holy  city  is  a 
disparagement .  of  its  importance,  an  intimation  that 
the  non-Christian  element  is  something  too  insig- 
nificant to  be  measured.  The  pure  Church  of  God, 
the  temple  of  living  stones  which  Christ  will  by  this 
time  have  reared  in  the  earth,  is  to  be  regarded  as  the 
great  fact  of  the  earthly  situation.  Next  to  this  fact 
is  that  of  a  court  round  about  the  temple — that  is,  a 


THE    CIIURCn    AND   THE    WORLD.  107 

congregation  in  close  proximity  to  the  Church,  which, 
although  not  yet  to  be  counted  as  p6sitively  Christian, 
is  yet  permeated  with  Christian  ideas,  and  so  near  to 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  that  but  a  few  steps,  and  for 
some  but  one  step,  is  sufficient  to  cross  the  interval 
between  congregation  and  church.  Then,  last  of  all, 
there  is  the  holy  city  itself — that  is  to  say,  a  world 
all  parts  of  which  have  become  so  acquainted  with 
Gospel  truth,  so  leavened  with  Christian  knowledge, 
so  familiar  with  the  presence  and  example  of  the 
Christian  Church,  that  every  zone  and  every  land  nmy 
be  said  to  be  in  sight  of  it.  What  though  the  court 
be^given  to  the  Gentiles — that  is,  what  though  con- 
gregation be  yet  dominated  by  worldliness  and  the 
holy  city  be  trodden  under  foot,  which  means  the 
presence  and  power  of  evil  iri  the  partly  evangelized 
Avorld  ?  The  time  of  the  wicked  is  comparatively 
short  ;  it  is  limited  to  a  period  here  called  forty-two 
months  ;  and  when  this  period  shall  have  ended,  the 
congregation  will  all  have  joined  the  Church,  and  the 
holy  city  of  the  world  will  Irave  become  as  sacred  and 
pure  as  the  temple  itself.  Then  "  Holiness  to  the 
Lord,"  once  the  inscription  upon  the  mitre  of  the 
priest,  will  be  engraved  even  upon  the  bells  of  the 
horses,  and  all  common  things  will  have  so  passed 
within  the  sanctified  sphere  of  true  religion  that  the 
difference  between  temple  and  city  will  cease  to  be 
perceived,  and  the  contrast  between  Church  and  world 
will  have  ended. 

And  now,  for  the  bringing  about  of  this  glad  time, 
the  importance  of  one  branch  of  Gospel  preaching  is 
emphasized.  It  is  the  force  of  the  testimony  which 


108  THE   WORLD    LIGHTED. 

the  truth  is  to  receive  from  the  witnesses  who  come 
forward  to  prove  it  Let  us  not  fail  to  observe  that 
the  final  triumph  of  the  Church  and  the  Gospel  is 
here  attributed  to  the  cumulative  force  of  the  evi- 
dences of  Christianity'. 

Any  light  which  can  be  thrown  upon  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  two  witnesses  contained  in  the  eleventh 
chapter  ought  to  be  very  welcome,  for  Alford  tells  us 
that  "  no  solution  has  ever  been  given  of  this  portion 
of  the  prophecy."  He  means,  of  course,  no  satisfac- 
tory solution.  It  is,  indeed,  a  most  perplexing  pas- 
sage, of  whose  meaning  most  interpreters  have  been 
able  to  give  hardly  any  intelligible  idea.  Two  wit- 
nesses clothed  in  sackcloth  are  to  prophesy  for  a 
period  of  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  days.  They  are 
described  in  the  language  of  the  prophecy  of  Zechariah 
as  two  olive-trees  and  two  candlesticks  standing  before 
the  Lord  of  all  the  earth.  They  have  power  to  de- 
stroy their  enemies  by  fire  from  their  mouths, 'to  shut 
up  the  heavens  as  Elijah  did,  and  to  smite  the  earth 
with  plagues  like  those  .which  Moses  brought  upon 
Egypt.  Upon  the  completion  of  their  testimony  the 
wild  beast  from  the  abyss  is  to  kill  them,  and  their 
corpses  are  to  lie  unburied  upon  the  street  of  the 
great  city,  called  spiritually  Sodom  and  Egypt,  for 
three  and  one  half  days,  insulted  and  exulted  over  by 
their  enemies,  until  the  spirit  of  life  from  God  enters 
into  them,  and  they  experience  a  wonderful  resurrec- 
tion and  ascension  into  heaven.  The  final  result  is  a 
great  convulsion  of  nature,  the  destruction  of  seven 
thousand,  and  the  enlightenment  of  the  remainder  so 
that  they  perceive  the  glory  of  God. 


THE   CHURCH    AND   THE   WORLD.  109 

It  is  not  strange  that  the  historical  interpreters  have 
been  at  their  wit's  end  to  find  in  past  events  something 
suitable  to  such  a  description.  We  have  seen  that 
A 1  ford  brands  all  attempted  solutions  as  worthless, 
lie  especially  remarks,  regarding  the  ascension  of  the 
witnesses,  that  no  attempt  has  been  made  to  explain 
this  by  those  who  take  the  passage  figuratively.  He 
inclines  to  a  literal  interpretation,  insisting  that  the 
two  witnesses  must  be  two  individuals  probably  yet  to 
appear  upon  the  earth  ;  but  he  seems  not  at  all  troubled 
by  the  difficulty  of  making  the  prodigies  ascribed  to 
them  literal.  Of  course  the  fire  from  their  mouths, 
th^-miracles  and  plagues,  the  death,  resurrection,  and 
ascension  must  all  be  actual  facts  upon  Alford's  sup- 
position. It  is  impossible,  it  would  seem,  to  make  a 
wilder  conjecture  than  this. 

Upon  the  theory  that  the  theme  of  the  Apocalypse 
is  the  progress  of  the  truth  in  the  enlightenment  of 
mankind,  and  that  while  the  breaking  of  the  seals 
represents  the  removal  of  obstacles  to  that  enlighten- 
ment, the  blowing  of  the  trumpets .  represents  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel,  it  is  both  consistent  and 
forcible  to  find  right  here  a  symbolic  description  of 
the  history  of  the  evidences  of  Christianity.  Christi- 
anity can  never  become  universal  until  it  is  proved  to 
be  the  true  religion.  The  progress  of  that  proof  has 
not  been  constant,  but  fluctuating,  and  sometimes  it 
has  met  with  reverses  almost  equal  to  a  death,  from 
which  it  has  experienced  a  subsequent  resurrection. 
That  the  argument  is  to  go  on  until  all  mankind  are 
fully  convinced,  that  facts  and  evidences  are  to  ac- 
cumulate until  doubt  becomes  impossible,  and  the 


110  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

truth  of  Christ's  religion  has  ascended,  as  it  were,  to 
a  heaven  where  it  is  no  longer  assailable — this  is  just 
what  we  all  hope  and  believe,  and  this  is  just  the  kind 
of  history  and  the  only  history  which  could  be  fitly 
represented  by  the  symbolic  narrative  before  us. 

Thus  interpreted,  this  passage  treats  of  exactly  that 
phase  of  the  great  subject  of  the  book  which  we  might 
expect  in  this  particular  place.  It  puts  just  the  em- 
phasis which  it  deserves  upon  the  cumulative  power 
of  the  evidences  of  Christianity  in  the  last  stages  of 
the  great  contest.  When  the  whole  world  stands  at 
length  in  the  same  relation  to  the  Church  which  the 
holy  city  had  to  the  temple,  when  the  knowledge  of 
the  Gospel  has  reached  the  remotest  bounds  of  the 
habitable  earth,  what  is  to  quicken  the  progress  of  the 
great  cause  to  the  actual  possession  of  the  heathen  as 
its  inheritance  ?  What  but  the  establishment  of  the 
claims  of  our  divine  religion  beyond  all  doubt  or  con- 
troversy ?  When  it  can  no  longer  be  doubted  that 
the  Bible  is  a  revelation  from  God,  when  Christ  can 
no  longer  be  denied  the  honors  of  divinity,  and  when 
the  other  great  facts  and  doctrines  have  ceased  to  be 
debatable,  we  may  surely  expect  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
will  use  this  certainty  for  the  rapid  and  complete 
conversion  of  the  human  race.  The  progress  which 
we  now  see  in  the  gathering  of  confirmation  from  all 
lands  and  all  sciences  is  the  swelling  of  a  flood  which 
must  ultimately  sweep  from  the  earth  all  scepticism 
regarding  the  divine  origin  and  authority  of  Christi- 
anity. 

The  number  two,  which  has  seemed  so  puzzling  in 
this  passage,  may  be  explained  as  the. least  number 


THE   CHURCII   AND   THE   WORLD.  Ill 

which  is  sufficient  to  make  testimony  convincing. 
"  In  the  mouth  of  two  or  three  witnesses  every  word 
shall  be  established."  Christ  insisted  that  His  testi- 
mony was  valid  because  the  Father  corroborated  it  : 
there  were  two  witnesses.  Elsewhere  the  candlesticks 
which  are  employed  to  light  up  the  darkness  of  earth 
are  seven  in  number  ;  here  they  are  two,  to  agree  with 
the  law  of  testimony. 

And  really  the  proofs  bywhrch -Christianity  is  being 
established  in  human  confidence  are  derived  from  two 
sources — Christian  learning  and  secular  learning,  or 
the  Bible  and  nature.  God  has  revealed  Himself 
both.. in  His  Word  and  in  His  works,  and  the  students 
of  both  revelations  supplement  and  corroborate  each 
other's  conclusions.  When  Christian  scholarship  shall 
have  borne  witness  to  all  that  it  has  learned  about  the 
truth,  the  scholarship  of  the  world  will  be  found  sup- 
porting it  with  the  results  of  all  the  sciences  and  the 
fruit  of  all  the  philosophies. 

This  twofoklness  of  the  evidence  is  here  emphasized 
in  language  adapted  from  the  prophecy  of  Zechariah. 
"  These  are  the  two  olive-trees  and  the  two  candle- 
sticks which  stand  before  the  Lord  of  the  earth." 
Here  wvfour  witnesses  instead  of  two  to  be  identified, 
if  we  make  the  witnesses  individuals.  But  the  simple 
principle  already  stated  explains  the  difficulty  on  the 
ground  that  each  of  the  two  great  divisions  of  Chris- 
tian evidence  has  a  twofoldness  in  itself.  Christian 
learning  taken  by  itself  has  a  complexity  of  proof 
which  is  self-supporting,  and  secular  learning  is  of 
many  kinds  which  mutually  sustain  each  other.  If, 
now,  we  say  that  the  two  candlesticks  represent  Chris- 


112  THE    WORLD   LIGHTED. 

lian  learning  and  the  two  olive-trees  secular  learning, 
how  appropriate  and  beautiful  are  the  symbols  !  How 
true  to  fact  is  the  description  of  the  prophet  in  which 
the  oil  from  the  olive-trees  was  seen  to  flow  through 
tubes  directly  into  the  candlesticks  !  Zechariah  had 
but  one  candlestick,  for  then  there  was  only  the  Jew- 
ish Church  ;  John  had  two,  for  in  his  time  the  Chris- 
tian Church  had  been  added.  But  into  both  the  Jew- 
ish and  Christian  candlesticks  the  oil  of  the  older 
revelation  through  nature  has  continually  flowed. 
t"  The  heavens"  as  well  as  the  preacher  "  declare  the 
glory  of  God  ;"  "  day  unto  day  uttereth  speech,  and 
night  unto  night  showeth  knowledge  ;"  and  all  that 
nature  says  in  any  of  her  provinces  and  all  that  scholars 
learn"  in  any  of  their  researches,  are  constantly  being 
added  to  the  evidence  that  Christ  is  the  Lord  and 
Saviour  of  the  world. 

The  explanation  of  the  prodigies  wrought  by  these 
witnesses  is  as  easy,  according  to  this  idea  of  their 
character,  as  it  is  difficult  according  to  any  other. 
Two  literal,  fire-breathing,  individual  men  would  be 
monsters  such  as  never  yet  were  seen  and  never,  prob- 
ably, will  be  seen  upon  the  earth  except  in  the  simula- 
tion of  Chinese  jugglery.  This  fire  going  out  of  the 
mouth  is  no  more  to  be  taken  literally  than  the  sword 
going  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  symbolic  Son  of  Man. 
In  both  cases  the  mouth  is  to  be  taken  as  the  organ  of 
speech,  and  the  fire  is  the  convincing  power  of  the 
argument  issuing  from  the  mouth.  Of  course  the 
death  produced  is  logical  rather  than  physical,  and 
the  statement  that  "if  any  one  is  minded  to  hurt 
them,  he  must  in  this  manner  be  killed"  seems  like 


THE    CHURCH    AND   THE   WORLD.  113 

a  careful  guarding  of  the  reader  against  taking  the 
death  spoken  of  too- literally. 

The  description  proceeds  to  attribute  power  to  the 
two  witnesses  to  shut  up  heaven  as  Elijah  did,  and  to 
bring  plagues  upon  the  earth  like  those  which  came 
upon  Egypt.  This  means,  of  course,  that  the  evi- 
dences of  Christianity  are  to  have  the  same  over- 
whelming power  to  silence  contradiction  as  in  the 
cases  of  Moses  and  Elijah.  We  are  reminded  of  the 
success  with  which  Elijah,  single-handed,  confronted 
and  overcame  the  four  hundred  and  fifty  priests  of 
Baal,  with  almost  the  whole  nation  in  sympathy  with 
th«ir  idolatry.  And  how,  long  before,  Moses  and 
Aaron  went  into  the  presence  of  Pharaoh  and  his 
magicians  and  humbled  all  their  pretensions.  Such  is 
to  be  the  triumph  of  Christian  evidence  in  the  days 
that  are  to  come.  No  subtlety  of  intellect,  no  array 
of  human  learning,  no  combination  of  error  and-soph- 
istry  shall  be  able  to  stand  before  it. 

This  triumph,  however,  is  not  to  be  obtained  with- 
out many  a  hard-fought  battle  and  many  apparent  re- 
verses. To  disprove  the  truth,  the  wild  and  savage 
spirit  of  unbelief  is  represented  under  the  figure  of  a 
wild  beast  emerging  from  the  abyss.  This  wild  beast, 
makes  war  with  the  witnesses  and  succeeds  in  killing 
them.  We  know  this  wild  beast  well  ;  it  is  the  an- 
cient figure  of  worldly  empire,  ruling  by  brute  force, 
and  inspired  and  sustained  by  Satanic  malice  and  cun- 
ning. It  is  inevitable  that  this  malign  power  which 
has 'tyrannized  over  and  terrorized  mankind  for  so 
many  ages  should  do  its  utmost  to  prevent  the  com- 
plete enlightenment  of  the  world.  All  worldly  and 


Hi  THE   WOULD   LIGHTED. 

liellisli  dominion  survives  only  as  long  as  the  night  of 
human  ignorance,  which  is  the  cover  of  its  real  char- 
acter, endures.  We  have  already  seen  many  a  struggle 
hetween  this  bulwark  of  error  and  the  dawning  and 
growing  truth.  We  shall,  perhaps,  see  many  more 
and  some  so  violent  and  powerful  as  for  a  time  to 
make  it  seem  as  if  the  truth  had  been  finally  over- 
thrown. There  have  been  hours  and  periods  of  dark- 
ness in  which  such  doubt  was  thrown  upon  the  Bible, 
and  Christianity  was  so  generally  discredited  as  to 
appear  about  to  be  driven  from  the  world.  Voltaire 
thought  that  he  should  be  able  to  crush  the  religion 
of  Christ.  Such  periods  of  depression  are  so  melan- 
choly that  they  may  well  be  symbolized  in  the  passage 
before  us  by  the  death  of  the  two  witnesses. 

Yes,  and  by  the  forlorn  spectacle  of  their  poor, 
helpless  corpses  lying  unburied  on  the  street  of  the 
great  city  exposed  to  the  taunts  and  gibes  of  their 
many  enemies.  If  ever  Christianity  shall  seem  for  a 
time  to  be  destroyed  from  the  earth,  we  may  be  sure 
the  malice  of  its  enemies  will  never  suffer  it  to  be 
decently  interred  and  so  put  out  of  sight  and  out  of 
mind.  No,  the  exultation  of  unbelief  is  like  the  sav- 
age joy  of  the  Indian  warrior,  who  cannot  be  satisfied 
with  the  bloody  recollections  of  his  victories,  but 
must  needs  wear  the  scalps  of  his  conquered  foes 
dangling  in  a  hideous  necklace  under  his  very  eyes. 
The  open  street  of  the  great  city  is  the  public  knowl- 
edge of  the  world.  If  Christianity  should  seem  to  be 
proved  a  delusion  all  the  world  must  know  of  it.  The 
part  of  the  world  which  will  gloat  over  it  will  be  the 
wickedest  and  most  unbelieving  part  of  mankind. 


THE    CHURCH    AND   THE    WOULD.  115 

The  "  great  city"  here  brought  to  view  is  the  same 
world  which,  at  the  beginning  of 'this  chapter,  was 
characterized  as  the  "holy  city."  There  the  world 
was  considered  in  its  best  aspect  as  the  place  in  which 
the  temple  of  God  is  being  built,  and  as  affected  by 
the  Church,  salutarily,  to  its  remotest  bounds.  Here 
the  same  world  is  considered  in  its  worst  aspect,  in  its 
attitude  of  opposition  to  the  Church,  and  of  resistance 
to  all  saving  influences.  That  this  is  the  correct  iden- 
tification of  the  great  city  we  may  be  sure  from  the 
remaining  items  of  description.  It  is  the  "  great  city 
which  spiritually  is  called  Sodom  and  Egypt,  where 
also*their  Lord -was  crucified."  No  literal  city  can 
satisfy  all  the  terms  of  this  description.  It  must  be  a 
city  enough  greater  than  Jerusalem  to  combine  the 
characteristics  of  Sodom  and  Egypt,  and  also  be  recog- 
nizable as  in  the  largest  sense  the  scene  of  our  Lord's 
crucifixion.  Sodom  is  in  history  the  place  of  un- 
bridled lust,  while  Egypt  is  the  land  of  pagan  and 
earthly  wisdom.  Was  not  our  Saviour  slain  by  the 
combination  of  these  two — the  rage  of  sensuality  in  the 
gratification  of  fleshly  appetites,  at  the  same  time  ex- 
ulting in  the  superiority  of  its  intellectual  attainments  ? 
The  people  who  have  these  characteristics  make  up 
that  great  city  on  whose  open  street  the  corpses  of  the 
two  witnesses  are  left  unburied.  Another  indication 
of  character  is  afforded  by  the  statement  that  those 
who  gloated  over  the  unburied  witnesses  did  so  "  be- 
cause they  (the  witnesses)  tormented  them  that  dwelt 
on  the  earth."  Wherever  in  the  wide  world  men  are 
•tormented  by  the  growing  proof  of  the  truth  of  the 
religion  of  Jesus,  there  arc  the  streets  of  tho  great 


110  THE   WORLD    LIGHTED. 

city,  of  which  the  literal   Jerusalem,  in  its  apostasy 
from  God,  is  only  one  of  the  smaller  wards. 

The  resurrection  and  ascension  of  the  two  witnesses 
is  a  beautiful  representation  of  the  final  confutation 
of  all  unbelief  and  the  permanent  establishment  of 
the  truth  of  Christianity  upon  an  impregnable  founda- 
tion. The  time  is  to  come  .when  the  proofs  of  our 
religion  will  go  up  like  their  Lord,  in  a  cloudy  chariot, 
to  the  heaven  of  ascertained  and  unquestionable  fact. 
When  that  day  comes  the  destruction  which  will  befall 
the  advocates  of  all  forms  of  error  will  be  sudden  and 
irremediable.  It  will  be  like  the  ruin  which  over- 
takes men  in  the  earthquake  shock  and  the  falling 
city.  "  Seven  thousand"  will  be  slain  outright — 
that  is,  all  the  thousands  (for  seven  is  the  number  of 
perfection)  who  have  oppo'sed  by  doubt  or  disputation 
the  advancing  demonstration  of  the  truth,  will  bo  logi- 
cally destroyed.  Not  a  tongue  will  continue  to  wag 
in  denial  of  our  divine  religion.  When  these  are 
silenced  the  rest,  the  vast  number  of  spectators  of  the 
contest,  will  become  affrighted  and  give  glory  to  God. 
They  will  have  that  fear  of  God  which  is  the  begin- 
ning of  wisdom,  and  over  all  the  earth  there  will  be 
none  foolish  enough  to  say,  as  infidels  have  said,  that 
the  heavens  declare  the  glory  only  of  astronomers  like 
Copernicus,  and  Kepler,  and  Newton.  Wherever 
the  day  dawns  upon  a  child  of  the  human  race,  or 
night  draws  the  curtains  which  hide  the  stars  from 
the  gaze  of  man,  there  the  united  power  of  the  two  wit- 
nesses, Nature  and  Revelation,  shall  be  acknowledged 
irresistible,  and  the  eye  shall  look  upward  only  to 
adore. 


THE   CHURCH   AND  THE   WOULD.  117 

We  have  now  reached  the  end  of  the  sixth  trumpet, 
so  much  the  most  remarkable  of  ull  in  the  range  of  its 
developments  and  the  greatness  of  its  successes.  The 
story  of  the  seventh  trumpet,  like  that  of  the  seventh 
seal,  is  comparatively  brief  and  uneventful.  Not  that 
it  is  really  less  important  and  glorious,  but  for  the 
same  reason  that  the  history  of  peace  is  so  much 
shorter  than  that  of  war.  "  Happy  the  people  who 
have  no  annals,"  it  has  been  said.  We  have  now 
reached  the  time  when,  all  obstacles  having  been  re- 
moved, the  Gospel  lias  only  one  unvarying  record  of 
success  which  can  be  told  in  a  few  words.  In  the 
agemint  of  the  seventh  seal  we  had  that  single  touch 
of  the  heavenly  silence  for  half  an  hour — a  silence 
which  stands  for  the  blessed  hush  of  controversial 
tongues  and  the  ceasing  of  all  mockers  from  their  un- 
holy ribaldry.  The  seventh  trumpet  is  a  psean  of  vic- 
tory ;  great  voices  herald  through  heaven  the  grand 
tidings  that  the  kingdom  over  the  world  (Alford's 
translation)  is  become  our  Lord's  and  of  His  Christ. 

There  is  little  more  which  calls  for  explanation. 
Again  we  see  the  four-and-twenty  elders  upon  their 
thrones,  and  they  fall  upon  their  faces  and  give  God 
the  glory  of  the  triumph.  Last  of  all  the  temple  of 
God  is  opened  to  disclose  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  and 
to  remind  us  that  all  the  wonderful  developments  of 
the  divine  kingdom,  down  to  the  latest  ages  of  time, 
are  only  the  fulfilment  of  God's  plighted  word  to  the 
fathers,  and  were  really  as  sure  to  take  place  when 
the  promise  was  first  given  as  when  they  were  actually 
occurring. 


XI. 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  DRAGON. 

IT  is  the  happiness  of  a  true  theory  to  find  continual 
corroborations  in  the  facts  for  which  it  attempts  to 
account:,  and  at  each  step  of  its  progress  to  meet  recur- 
ring the  appearances  which  gave  it  plausibility  at  the 
outset.  It  is  pleasant  to  be  able  to  call  the  reader's 
attention  to  the  reappearance,  at  this  point  in  our 
study,  of  the  symbols  which  gave  us  sucli  assurance 
at  the  beginning.  The  introduction,  it  was  said,  with 
its  flaming  figure  of  the  King,  as  a  sun,  attended  by 
stars  and  candlesticks,  promised  a  vision  of  the  light- 
ing up  of  the  world  by  means  of  truth.  What  could 
the  symbols  mean  but  illumination  2  What  could  the 
prophecy  be  but  that  of  the  spiritual  enlightenment 
of  mankind  ?  We  have  now  followed  this  clew  through 
half  the  book,  and  it  has  seemed  to  serve  us  ;  we  have 
not  felt  lost  in  the  labyrinth.  In  fact,  at  the  end  of 
the  eleventh  chapter  we  appear  to  have  reached  the 
termination  of  the  dramatic  action,  and  to  have  com- 
pleted our  task  successfully. 

Instead  of  ending,  however,  the  prophecy  now  enters 
upon  a  new  series  of  visions,  the  relation  of  which  to 
the  preceding  appears  to  be  that  of  an  episode  of  the 
sixth  trumpet.  It  would  not  have  been  strange,  nor 
would  it -have  cast  any  doubt  upon  our  interpretation 


THE   CUUUCH    AND   THE    DllAGOX.  119 

thus  far,  if,  at  this  point,  we  had  come  to  an  entirely 
new  class  of  symbols,  showing  a  radical  change  "of  sub- 
ject. But  there  is  no  change,  for,  as  if  to  reassure  us 
that  we  are  still  to  go  on  with  the  same  clew,  at  the 
outset  of  this  new  departure  we  meet  again  with  the 
same  symbols  which  we  have  learned  to  understand  so 
well.  This  new  series  of  visions,  then,  as  well  as  the 
preceding  series,  must  have  for  its  subject-matter  the 
spiritual  enlightenment  of  mankind,  since,  as  at  first, 
the  figure  chosen  to  hint  their  purport  is  a  magnificent 
composite  light-bearer. 

No  one  can  fail  to  see,  when  once  his  attention  is 
ca44cd  to  the  fact,  that,  at  the  beginning  of  what  may 
be  called  the  second  part  of  the  Apocalypse,  we. have, 
substantially  repeated,  the  splendid  figure  of  the  first 
chapter.  That  was  "  one  like  unto  the  Son  of  Man," 
with  His  countenance  "  as'  the  sun,"  "  in  His  right 
hand  seven  stars,"  and  surrounded  by  "  seven  golden 
candlesticks."  Now  we  have  "  a  woman  clothed  with 
the  sun,  and  the  moon  under  her  feet,  and  upon  her 
head  a  crown  of  twelve  stars."  These  symbols  are 
all  light-bearers,  and  must  mean  here  just  what  light 
bearers  meant  there,  the  story  of  the  truth,  in  its  battle 
with  falsehood  for  the  possession  of  the  world.  The 
differences  in  the  two  pictures  are  such  as  to  indicate 
the  modification  of  treatment  of  the  subject  at  this 
point.  The  first  part  of  the  Apocalypse  makes  the 
King  of  the  kingdom  the  light  of  the  world  ;  the 
second  part  treats  of  the  Church,  the  bride  and  queen 
of  the  King,  as  the  luminary.  The  story  now  to  be 
told  is  how  the  Church  is  to  hold  forth  the  word  of 
life,  and  shine  as  a  light  in  the  world,  and  what  are 


120  TUB   WORLD   LIGHTED. 

to   be  its   difficulties,    trials,  reverses,  and    flnal  and 
glorious  successes. 

The  drama  of  the  twelfth  chapter,  now  to  be  ex- 
plained, is  as  follows  :  The  woman,  clothed  with  the 
sun,  and  crowned  with  twelve  stars,  is  described  as 
being  in  the  pains  of  childbirth,  when  a  terrible  enemy 
to  her  and  to  her  offspring  appears,  in  the  shape  of  a 
great  red  dragon.  This  dragon  has  seven  heads  and 
ten  horns,  and  seven  crowns  upon  its  seven  heads.  So 
mighty  is  the  monster  that,  with  one  sweep  of  its 
great  tail,  it  casts  down  a  third  part  of  the  stars  of 
heaven.  It  stands  before  the  woman  to  devour  her 
child  at  the  instant  of  its  birth  ;  but  the  child,  a  man- 
childr  which  is  destined  to  rule  all  nations  with  a  rod 
of  iron,  is  caught  up  to  God  and  to  His  throne.  War 
is  now  represented  as  raging  in  heaven  itself,  between 
Michael  and  his  angels  and  the  dragon  and  his  angels, 
which  results  in  the  casting  of  the  dragon,  with  his 
angels,  out  of  heaven.  He  is  now  called  the  old  ser- 
pent, and  still  more  plainly,  the  Devil.  There  is  loud 
exultation  in  heaven  because  the  accuser  of  the 
brethren  before  God  is  cast  out,  and  because  of  their 
victory  through  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  and  by  "the 
faithfulness  of  their  testimony,  and  by  their  heroic 
martyrdoms.  Woe  is  declared  to  the  inhabitants  of 
the  earth  -and  the  sea,  on  account  of  the  embittered 
wrath  of  the  Devil,  and  his  knowledge  that  his  time  is 
short.  The  dragon  now  persecutes  the  woman,  but 
to  her  are  given  two  wings  of  a  great  eagle,  with  which 
she  escapes  to  the  wilderness,  to  be  nourished  there  a 
time,  times,  and  half  a  time.  The  serpent  next  casts 
out  of  his  mouth  a  flood  of  water,  to  carry  away  the 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  DRAGON.        121 

woman,  but  the  earth  helps  her  by  opening  its  mouth 
to  swallow  up  the  flood.  The  dragon  at  last  abandons 
the  contest,  but  continues  to  show  his  implacable  spirit 
by  warring  with  the  rest  of  the  woman's  seed. 

This  remarkable  description,  which  equals  a  Greek 
or  Hindoo  myth  by  its  apparently  wild  and  fantastic 
images,  has  been  the  puzzle  and  the  despair  of  most 
commentators.  They  have  been  quite  unable  to  find 
in  it  any  connected  and  consistent  sense,  and  have  felt 
obliged  to  torture  both  Scripture  and  history  for  any 
plausible  solution,  or  to  take  refuge  in  the  unrevealed 
possibilities  of  an  inscrutable  future.  They  say  that 
tlacTtime  may -come  when  this  chapter  will  have  an  in- 
telligible meaning,  but  that  time  is  not  yet.  If,  after 
such  confessions,  the  theory  of  this  exposition  yields  a 
rational  and  harmonious  sense  for  the  entire  chapter, 
it  ought  to  go  far  to  establish  the  idea  of  the  purport 
of  the  Apocalypse  here  followed  as  the  correct  one. 

Not  but  that  many  interpreters  have  caught  glimpses 
of  light  here  and  there,  but  they  have  failed  to  get  a 
complete  view,  as  it  seems  to  me,  because  they  had  no 
standpoint  sufficiently  high  to  comprehend  all  the  parts 
of  the  action.  Great  trouble  has  sprung  from  the  at- 
tempt to  blend  a  literal  interpretation  of  some  of  the 
details  with  a  figurative  interpretation  of  others. 
There  are  points  in  which  the  narrative  so  closely 
agrees  with  historical  events  as  not  only  to  seem  to 
have  been  suggested  by  them,  but  even  to  demand 
identification  with  them.  Such  points  of  agreement 
are  the  birth  of  the  man-child  and  the  birth  of  Christ ; 
the  catching  up  of  the  child  to  God's  throne  and  the 
ascension  of  our  Lord  ;  the  war  in  heaven,  which  results 


122  THE   WORLD    LIGHTED. 

in  the  casting  out  of  Satan  and  the  history  of  the 
Devil  and  his  angels  ;  the  escape  of  the  woman  to  the 
wilderness  and  the  exodus  of  the  Israelites  out  of 
Egypt  into  the  wilderness  of  Sinai.  These  resem- 
blances have  tempted,  and,  indeed,  seemed  to  compel 
interpreters  to  identify  the  symbolism  with  the  history 
which  it  so  closely  imitates.  They  even  insist  that 
there  can  be  no  other  explanation.  Alford  is  so  sure 
that  the  man-child  of  this  chapter  is  the  child  Jesus 
that  he  warmly  denounces  all  interpretations  which  do 
not  assume  their  identity.  The  latest  commentaries 
that  I  have  seen  follow  him  in  accepting  this  identity 
as  indisputable. 

The  difficulties,  however,  are  so  great,  to  my  own 
mind,  of  harmonizing  such  an  identification  with  the 
other  details  of  the  vision  that  I  wonder  how  its  ad- 
vocates can  be  so  positive.  If  the  man-child  be  Jesus 
of  Nazareth,  then  the  woman  must  be  the  Virgin  Mary, 
and  the  Roman  Catholics  have  scriptural  authority  for 
enthroning  the  Yirgin  with  all  the  signs  of  divine 
dignity.  They  have  not  been  slow  to  claim  the  pas- 
sage and  to  make  the  most  of  it.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  with  Protestants  generally,  we  regard  the  wom- 
an as  the  Church,  then  Jesus  of  Nazareth  becomes  the 
child  of  the  Church  instead  of  its  father,  as  He  is 
represented  in  Heb.  2  :  13,  "Behold  1  and  the 
children  which  God  hath  given  Me."  To  avoid  this 
difficulty  the  Church  has  been  extended  to  mean  the 
Church  of  all  ages  ;  but  whatever  we  make  of  it,  it  can 
be  only  in  a  figurative  sense  that  the  Church  can  be 
called  the  mother  of  Christ ;  and  if  the  mother  be 
figurative,  may  not  the  child  be  most  probably  figu- 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  DRAGON.        123 

rative  also  ?  That  it  is  so  is  evident  from  the  next 
great  difficulty,  which  is  the  wide  discrepancy  between 
the  histories  of  this  man-child  and  of  our  Lord.  For 
the  man-child  is  caught  up  to  God  and  made  secure 
from  his  enemies  from  his  very  birth,  while  Jesus 
remained  upon  the  earth  till  manhood,  and  ascend- 
ed only  after  His  foes  had  inflicted  upon  Him  all 
the  suffering  He  was  capable  of  enduring  at  their 
hands. 

These  disagreements  are  so  great  as  to  forbid  the 
attempted  identification,  and  yet  it  may  be  freely 
granted  that  the  resemblances  to  the  history  of  our 
Loxil  are  such  as  to  make  us  feel  that  some  reference 
to* Him  is  intended.  The  simple  and  satisfactory  ex- 
planation of  this  puzzle  I  believe  to  be  this.  Jesus  is 
the  Truth,  as  well  as  the  Way  and  the  Life,  and  the 
fortunes  of  the  truth  in  the  world  are  so  much  like 
Christ's  personal  history,  that  when  they  are  detailed, 
they  remind  us  of  it.  It  is  not  at  all  strange  that  Ilis 
truth  should  fare  as  He  fared,  that  it  should  be  in  peril 
from  some  Herod,  have  to  hide  itself  in  the  wilderness 
as  He  did,  and  have  the  power  to  ascend  into  heaven 
and  sit  down  upon  His  throne.  "  1  am  the  Truth," 
He  said,  and  as  the  Truth,  He  is  continually  living  over 
again  the  life  recorded  in  the  Gospels,  being  born  of 
a  woman,  assailed  by  enemies,  hiding  in  the  deserts, 
being  crucified,  rising  from  the  tomb,  and  ascending 
into  heaven. 

We  thus  gain  the  point  of  view  necessary  for  the 
satisfactory  interpretation  of  the  vision — satisfactory 
because  intelligible,  harmonious,  and  approximately 
complete.  If  it  be  not  quite  possible  to  explain  all 


124  T1IE   WORLD    LIGHTED. 

the  particulars,  it  is  possible,  at  any  rate,  to  give  a 
rational  account  of  most  of  them. 

Most  interpreters  have  seen  that  the  woman  must 
represent  the  Church,  but  they  have  failed  to  see  the 
peculiar  character  in  which  the  Church  is  here  exhib- 
ited. It  is  that  of  the  Teacher  and  Enlightener  of 
mankind.  All  the  details  of  the  vision  may  be  har- 
monized with  that  special  aspect  of  the  Church,  though 
it  is  impossible  to  harmonize  them  with  any  other. 
The  history  of  the  Church's  struggle  to  instruct  the 
world  is  set  forth  in  this  symbolic  narrative  so  vividly, 
that  it  is  easy  to  trace  its  stages  ;  and  if  the  historical 
interpreters  had  had  their  eyes  upon  this  phase  of  the 
past,  they  would  not  have  been  so  bemired. 

The  appropriateness  of  the  symbols  by  which  the 
Church  is  suggested  to  us  in  this  character,  as  the 
teacher  and  light  of  the  world,  is  obvious.  "  Clothed 
with  the  sun  !"  What  a  pity  to  belittle  this  sublime 
metaphor,  as  some  have  done,  into  a  figurative  descrip- 
tion of  a  lady's  bridal  dress  !  It  is  rather  the  assertion 
that  the  Church's  wisdom  is  the  wisdom  of  Christ 
Himself  ;  that  she  has  power  to  teach  the  race  because 
in  her  resides  the  knowledge  and  through  her  shine 
the  splendors  of  the  Great  Teacher,  the  sun  of  the 
first  chapter  of  the  Apocalypse.  The  moon  and  the 
stars  have  their  appropriateness  in  being  also  light- 
bearers,  and  it  may  be  said  that  in  this  symbolic  repre- 
sentation the  Church  is  invested  with  all  the  celestial 
luminaries.  There  is  no  light  which  heaven  can 
give  which  is  not  at  the  disposal  of  the  Church.  It 
has  Christ,  the  great  sun  of  Revelation ;  it  has  the 
stars,  twelve  in  number.  This  number,  the  product, 


THE    CHURCH    AND   THE    DRAGON".  125 

it  is  said,  of  three  and  four — tliree  being  the  number 
of  heaven  and  four  being  the  number  of  earth — im- 
plies that  angels  and  saints,  the  great  created  intelli- 
gences, the  star-intellects  of  both  worlds,  are  at  the 
service  of  the  Church.  As  for  the  moon  under  the 
feet  of  the  woman,  what  can  that  be  but  secular  learn- 
ing, which  is  always  waxing  or  waning,  and  which, 
though  sometimes  quite  dark,  at  other  times  sheds  a 
clear  and  silvery  radiance,  of  unspeakable  comfort  and 
use  to  mankind  ?  Sun,  moon,  and  stars  all  belong 
to  the  Church,  and  all  aid  her  to  accomplish  her  great 
mission,  as  the  teacher  of  the  human  race. 

/Hie  birth  pangs — what  are  these  ?  Is  there  a  teacher 
who  does  not  recognize  the  fitness  of  the  figure  ? 
When  scholars  are  dull,  when  minds  are  perverse, 
when  understandings  are  prone  to  mistake  error  for 
truth,  how  hard  the  prophet  labors  to  put  his  message 
in  such  form  as  to  meet  the  exigency  !  Early  in  the 
history  of  the  Church  the  fact  was  recognized  that  the 
doctrine  about  Christ  needed  to  be  put  into  statements 
so  clear,  so  precise,  so  guarded,  and  yet  so  full,  that 
it  should  be  impossible,  henceforth,  to  confuse  the 
belief  of  the  Church  with  any  one  of  the  many  forms 
of  heresy  which  equally  claimed  to  be  of  scriptural 
authority.  The  need  was  imperative,  but  it  was  not 
found  easy  to  supply  it.  It  took  three  centuries  of 
study,  meditation,  and  controversy  to  accomplish  the 
task.  At  the  Council  of  Nicsea,  the  creed  was  finally 
and  conclusively  formulated.  A  statement  of  the 
nature  of  Christ  and  of  His  relations  to  the  two  other 
persons  of  the  Trinity  was  then  published  to  the  world, 
which  has  been  ever  since,  and  is  destined,  evidently, 


126  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

to  remain  through  all  time  the  authoritative  interpre- 
tation of  the  scriptural  teachings  about  our  Saviour. 

Such  a  fact  is  abundantly  worthy,  it  seems  to  me, 
(o  be  described  as  the  birth  of  a  man-child  from  the 
labor-pains  of  the  Church.  It  was,  in  the  realm  of 
thought,  a  duplication  of  the  birth  of  Jesus  in  the 
realm  of  life.  The  final  publication  of  the  right  doc- 
trine concerning  His  unique  personality  was  a  kind  of 
second  birth  into  the  world.  The  creed  was,  indeed, 
a  man-child  ;  was  caught  up  into  a  heaven  of  impreg- 
nable safety  from  the  moment  of  its  birth  ;  was  seated 
upon  a  throne,  and  is  destined  to  rule  all  nations  with 
a  rod  of  iron,  inasmuch  as  it  is,  undoubtedly,  a  correct 
statement  of  the  facts  of  the  divine  trinity,  which 
mankind  must  accept,  and  with  which  they  must  har- 
monize themselves. 

Should  any  demur  to  the  putting  of  such  honor  upon 
the  creed  of  Nicaea,  there  is  an  alternative  interpreta- 
tion which  admits  of  no  such  objection.  It  may  be 
said  that  the  first  great  task  of  the  teaching  Church 
was  the  production  of  the  New  Testament,  and  that 
this  part  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  was  the  man-child. 
All  that  has  been  said  of  the  Niceean  Creed  is  of  course 
true,  and  true,  in  a  still  higher  sense,  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. The  opposition  to  that  book,  the  heaven  of  ac- 
knowledged inspiration  to  which  it  ascended,  and  the 
authority  with  which  it  has  ever  since  ruled  over  the 
minds  of  men,  all  fit  the  symbolic  description,  and 
may  be  accepted,  if  it  seems  preferable,  as  a  satisfac- 
tory interpretation  of  the  account.  It  is  really  inclu- 
sive of  the  other. 

Turning  now  to  the  symbols  of    hostility   to  the 


THE   CHURCH   AND   THE   DRAGON.  127 

Church  as  «i  teacher,  and  to  her  mental  offspring,  the 
appropriateness  and,  indeed,  necessity  of  such  symbols 
are  at  once  apparent.  Who  would  be  most  averse  to 
a  clear,  exact,  doctrinal  statement  of  the  person  of 
Christ,  or  to  the  publication  of  those  inspired  docu- 
ments from  which  that  statement  has  been  drawn,  but 
that  old  serpent,  the  Devil,  who  is  the  father  of  lies, 
and  whose  kingdom  depends  upon  the  continuance  of 
intellectual  as  well  as  moral  darkness  over  the  earth  ? 
lie  is  described  as  a  great  red  dragon,  a  monster  with 
seven  heads  and  ten  horns  and  seven  crowns,  whose 
mighty  tail  sweeps  a  third  part  of  the  stars  of  heaven 
fro/rt  their  places.  A  great  deal  of  thought  and  study 
has  been  wasted  upon  the  question  how  ten  horns 
could  be  placed  upon  seven  heads.  The  question  im- 
plies that  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  clearly  picture  these 
symbols  before  the  eye  of  the  mind  in  such  a  way 
that  nothing  shall  be  out  of  proportion  or  offend  the 
taste.  The  assumption  is  unwarranted.  Can  anybody 
make  a  picture  of  the  Son  of  Man  with  a  sword  com- 
ing out  of  His  mouth  which  would  not  be  grotesque 
and  repulsive  ?  Our  task  is  not  that  of  the  artist,  to 
get  natural  and  pleasing  pictures  out  of  these  descrip- 
tions, but  rather  that  of  the  reader  of  hieroglyphics, 
who  disregards  the  impossibility  of  the  combinations 
as  facts,  and  regards  them  merely  as  symbols  of  spir- 
itual truths,  incapable  of  representation  in  any  manner 
less  extravagant. 

Without  stopping,  then,  for  any  such  child' splay  as 
the  placing  of  three  superfluous  horns,  we  have  merely 
to  inquire  how  the  combination  of  symbols  in  the  dragon 
represents  His  history,  resources,  and  spirit.  It  oc- 


128  THE   WORLD    LIGHTED. 

curred  to  De  "Wette  that  the  heads  might  be  emblems 
of  sagacity  and  the  horns  of  power,  while  Delitzsch 
tells  us  of  "a  great  serpent  with  seven  heads"  which 
is  found  in  the  Assyrian  inscriptions.  We  need  go  no 
further  to  see  that  the  Devil  is  here  represented,  in 
accordance  with  ancient  usage,  as  the  god  of  this 
world,  uniting  in  himself  all  Satanic  cunning  with  all 
mere  human  sagacity,  and  having  at  his  command  all 
the  means  of  earthly  power.  It  is  this  formidable 
being,  whose  first  stupendous  success  was  to  deceive 
and  draw  from  their  steadfastness  a  third  part  of  God's 
own  angels,  and  who  is  red  with  the  blood  of  uncounted 
human  souls,  who  opposes,  with  eager  and  unsleeping 
malice,  the  further  enlightenment  of  mankind  by  the 
Church.  The  seals  would  not  be  broken  if  he  could 
prevent  it  ;  the  trumpets  of  the  Gospel  would  not  be 
blown  if  he  could  hinder  ;  the  clearing  up  of  the  ob- 
scurity which  attaches  to  the  great  facts  of  existence 
is  precisely  that  act  of  the  Church  which  will  be  most 
fatal  to  that  empire  which  is  founded  upon  ignorance, 
prejudice,  and  misunderstanding.  No  wonder  Satan 
is  stirred  to  utmost  wrath  when  the  mind  of  the 
Church  is  being  inspired  to  produce  those  Gospels  and 
Epistles  which  constitute  the  clearer  part  of  Holy  Writ. 
No  wonder  he  is  wrathful  when  the  mind  of  the 
Church  is  big  with  the  conception  of  the  exact  relation 
of  the  Son  of  God  to  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
What,  now,  is  the  war  in  heaven  ?  Of  course  not 
literal  war,  nor  literally  in  heaven  ;  riot  the  actual 
clash  of  arms  between  Michael  and  his  angels,  and 
Satan  and  his  wicked  cohorts.  But  something  on  earth 
worthy  to  be  represented  by  such  a  Titanic  contest. 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  DKAGON.        129 

What  can  that  be,  if  not  the  contest  in  the  visible 
Church  concerning  true  and  false  doctrine  ?  What  an 
awful  fact  it  has  been,  and  still  is,  that  among  the  pro- 
fessed followers  of  Christ  there  has  been  a  wide  differ- 
ence of  opinion  on  fundamental  points,  and  that  that 
difference  has  produced  estrangement,  sectarianism, 
and  bloody  persecutions  !  What  could  be  more  fitly 
described  as  "  war  in  heaven"  than  this  ?  Who  could 
deserve  to  be  branded  as  the  minions  of  Satan  if  not 
the  mitred  and  crosiered  inquisitors  of  the  apostate 
church  ?  And  who  have  fought  with  a  courage  and  an 
intelligence  worthy  of  the  angels  themselves  if  not  the 
ma/*tyrs  who  have  contended  so  earnestly  for  the  faith 
once  for  all  delivered  to  the  saints  ?  When  John  Huss 
went  to  the  stake,  dressed  in  garments  covered  with 
pictures  of  the  fiends  of  whom  he  was  accused  of 
being  possessed,  and,  calmly  disregarding  the  slanders 
of  his  enemies,  committed  himself  and  the  truth  which 
he  had  taught  to  the  keeping  of  a  faithful  Creator,  he 
showed  a  knightly  prowess  which  the  Archangel 
Michael  himself  might  be  glad  to  be  able  to  exhibit. 
A  few  such  facts  are  all  that  is  needful  to  justify  the 
claim  that  the  history  of  doctrine  has  been  like  a  war 
in  heaven. 

We  have  not  yet  reached  the  end  of  that  war. 
There  is  yet  enough  of  it  to  make  us  glad  to  know 
that  it  is  certain  of  a  happy  termination.  We  realize 
something  of  the  blessedness  of  him  "  that  readeth 
and  (those)  that  hear  the  words  of  this  prophecy," 
when  we  accept  its  forecast  regarding  the  issue  of  this 
conflict.  This  passage  assures  us  that  Satan  is  to  bo 
cast  out  of  heaven  with  all  his  followers.  That  means 


130  DUE   WORLD   LIGHTED. 

that  the  dark  spirit  of  error  is  to  bo  banished  entirely 
from  the  Church,  so  that  its  members  shall  all  be  of 
the  same  mind,  and  there  shall  be  no  more  sects  and 
no  more  schisms.  When  that  time  comes  it  will  be 
worthy  of  a  celebration.  Not  only  in  heaven,  but 
upon  earth,  certainly  everywhere  among  God's  people, 
will  be  heard  the  exultant  declaration—"  Now  is 
come  salvation,  and  strength,  and  the  kingdom  of  our 
God,  and  the  power  of  His  Christ :  for  the  accuser  of 
our  brethren  is  cast  down,  which  accused  them  before 
our  God  day  and  night."  When  "the  cruel  war  is 
over"  within  the  Church  itself,  and  the  best  and  wis- 
est teachers  of  the  faith  are  no  longer  maligned  as 
errorists  and  fanatics,  and  the  bad  spirit  of  deceit  is 
left  entirely  to  the  unchurched,  the  kingdom  of  God 
will,  indeed,  have  come,  as  we  have  never  seen  it  yet 
and  can  scarcely  imagine  it  to  exist  upon  the  earth. 

Meanwhile,  during  the  era  of  contention,  misunder- 
standing, and  persecution,  with  false  doctrine  and  a 
paganized  Christianity  in  possession  of  the  civil  power, 
what  would  become  of  the  truth  and  its  loyal  coufes- 
sors  but  for  the  power  which  they  possess  of  hiding 
themselves  in  obscure  places,  where  they  can  bide  their 
time  to  issue  forth  ?  Something  like  this  must  bo 
meant  by  the  two  wings  of  a  great  eagle  which  were 
given  to  the  woman,  that  she  might  make  her  escape 
to  the  wilderness.  It  is  well  known  that  when  the 
Bible  became  a  forbidden  book  and  a  New  Testament 
church  a  forbidden  institution,  both  Bible  and  Church 
found  a  refuge  in  obscure  hamlets,  in  remote  and  in- 
accessible wilds,  where  they  lived  on  unknown  by  the 
world,  while  centuries  passed  and  a  better  day  drew  on. 


THE   CHUECII   AND  THE   DRAGON.  131 

The  water  which  the  serpent  cast  out  of 'his  mouth 
after  the  woman,  to  carry  her  away,  must  be  that 
flood  of  calumny  which  has  been  pDured  upon  the  godly 
by  those  who  have  made  the  public  opinion  and  writ- 
ten the  histories  of  mankind  through  all  the  dark 
ages.  What  simple-hearted  and  faithful  company  of 
true  believers  has  there  been  which  has  not  been  so 
vilified  as  to  appear  like  a  crew  of  dark  conspirators 
against  human  happiness  ?  This  systematic  and  per- 
sistent aspersion  of  the  excellent  of  the  earth  is  one  of 
Satan's  chief  devices  for  prolonging  his  empire.  But, 
blessed  be  God  !  the  earth  helps  the  woman  by  open- 
ing^its  mouth  and  swallowing  up  the  river  of  mis- 
representation. In  time  the  lie  is  found  out,  and  wit- 
nesses arise,  both  in  the  Church  and  out  of  it,  who 
testify  to  the  character  of  real  well-doers.  History 
vindicates  the  martrys,  science  comes  to  their  support, 
scholarship,  both  secular  and  sacred,  establishes  the 
correctness  of  their  doctrines  and  the  purity  of  their 
principles,  and  so  at  last  it  comes  to  pass  that  truth, 
though  it  has  been  "crushed  to  earth,"  rises  again, 
while  "  error,  wounded,  writhes  in  'pain  and  dies 
among  her  worshippers." 

The  final  action  of  tlie  defeated  but  implacable 
dragon  has  greatly  puzzled  those  who  have  sought  to 
explain  it.  After  his  discomfiture  by  the  woman  and 
her  offspring  he  departs  to  make  war  with  the  "  rem- 
nant of  her  seed,  which  keep  the  commandments  of 
God,  and  have  the  testimony  of  Jesus."  Who  the 
remnant  of  her  seed  are,  it  is  difficult  to  say  upon  any 
other  theory  of  the  purpose  of  the  Apocalypse  than 
the  present  one.  But  how  easy  upon  this  !  If  the 


132  THE   WORLD   LIGHTED. 

man-child  bo  some  great  doctrinal  statement,  like  that 
of  the  Nicaean  Creed,  concerning  the  divinity  of 
Christ,  the  other  offspring  of  the  woman  are  other 
formulated  truths.  With  any  or  all  of  them  the  Ser- 
pent ia  at  war,  and  when  he  is  not  attacking  one  ho 
is  assailing  another.  Nothing  could  be  truer  to  fact 
than  the  representation  that  having  been  worsted  in 
his  conflict  with  the  teaching  of  the  Church  regarding 
the  first  great  doctrine  to  ba  formulated,  ho  has  con- 
tested every  other  doctrine  in  its  turn.  As  he  opposed 
the  divinity  of  Christ  in  the  third  century,  so  he  op- 
posed justification  by  faith  in  Martin  Luther's  time 
and  the  new  birth  in  "Whitefield's.  He  maintains  the 
fight  with  truth  somewhere,  anywhere,  where  he  can 
find  a  mind  not  yet  established  in  the  faith.  We  may 
be  sure  that  the  father  of  lies  will  never  relax  his 
energy  or  retire  from  the  field  while  there  is  yet  a 
corner  of  the  world  where  the  whole  truth  is  not  yet 
known.  Nothing  less  can  ever  end  his  campaigns 
than  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  covering  the  earth  as 
the  waters  cover  the  sea. 


XII. 

THE   WILD    BEASTS. 

THE  portrayal  of  the  opposition  which  the  Church 
must  encounter  in  its  endeavors  to  enlighten  the 
world  passes,  in  the  thirteenth  chapter,  from  Satan 
himself  to  his  most  formidable  emissaries.  In  this 
chapter  two  wild  beasts  are  described  and  their  rela- 
tions to  each  other  and  to  the  father  of  lies  distinctly 
set  forth,  with  the  extent  of  their  tremendous  and 
apparently  successful  resistance  to  the  truth. 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  have  reached  a  point  where  the 
agreement  of  the  best  expounders  is  so  marked  that, 
in  a  general  way,  we  may  accept  their  conclusions. 
The  description  of  these  beasts  is  so  easily  compre- 
hended that  it  is  impossible  not  to  recognize  their 
originals.  The  one  which  rises  up  out  of  the  sea,  in 
some  respect  resembling  a  leopard,  a  bear,  and  a  lion, 
but  with  seven  heads,  ten  horns,  and  ten  crowns  upon 
his  horns,  and  on  his  heads  names  of  blasphemy,  is 
the  well-understood  symbol  of  'worldly  power.  The 
different  animals,  blended  into  one,  are  the  several 
universal  empires  of  the  ancient  world,  which  passed 
the  sceptre  on  from  one  to  another]  until,  at  the 
time  at  which  the  Apocalypse  was  written,  Rome  held 
it  in  its  iron  hand.  The  fact,  suggested  by  this  sym- 
bol, is,  that  the  greatest  adversary,  next  to  the  Devil 


134  THE   WORLD    LIGHTED. 

himself,  which  the  truth  has  to  meet  in  the  world  is 
the  terrible  opposition  of  political  power. 

It  is  this  special  idea  that  interpreters  seem  to  me  to 
have  failed  to  grasp.  No  one  can  help  seeing  that,  in 
some  way,  the  political  systems  of  mankind  are  repre- 
sented as  antagonizing  the  Church.  One  who  lacked 
the  general  conception  of  the  Apocalypse  which  I 
have  set  forth  would  be  likely  to  think  that  the  war 
between  the  Church  and  the  worldly  power  here  in 
view  is  along  the  whole  line.  And  so,  indeed,  it  is, 
but  with  special  emphasis  upon  the  conflict  of  truth 
with  error,  the  Church  trying  to  educate  the  race,  and 
organized  political  power  setting  itself  against  such  an 
education.  The  prophecy  was  that  when  Christ's 
people  should  go  out  into  the  world  to  instruct  man- 
kind in  heavenly  knowledge,  they  should  find,  right 
across  every  path,  forbidding  further  advance,  the 
combined  strength  of  civil  government  and  human 
worship  of  political  power. 

That  it  is  worldly  power  in  this  aspect  of  its  charac- 
ter— namely,  its  opposition  to  human  enlightenment, 
that  is  intended,  is  evident  from  the  description.  Of 
that  description,  the  most  significant  part,  the  part 
which  agrees  most  with  the  other  des  ^riptions  of  the 
Revelation,  is  that  the  wild  beast  had  upon  his  heads 
"names  of  blasphemy."  What  are  names  of  blas- 
phemy but  falsehoods  about  God  and  slanders  against 
Him  ?  The  wild  beast  of  worldly  power  is  depicted,' 
then,  as  wearing  upon  its  awf al  front,  and  bearing  it 
high  over  the  world,  the  denial  of  God's  blessed 
truth.  In  addition  to  this,  later  on  it  is  said  that 
"  there  was  given  to  him  a  mouth  speaking  great  things 


THE    WILD    BEASTS.  135 

and  blasphemies."  "  And  lie  opened  his  moutli  for 
blasphemies  against  God,  to  blaspheme  His  name,  and 
His  tabernacle,  even  them  that  dwell  in  the  heaven." 
What  could  be  more  explicit  than  this  2  What  could 
be  more  appalling  in  the  divine  characterization  of 
worldly  power  ?  Of  all  the  dreadful  things  which  can 
be  said  of  worldly  empires,  there  is  nothing  so  dreadful 
as  the  fact  that  they  antagonize  the  Revelation  from 
heaven  and  the  teachings  of  Christianity. 

Well  was  it  for  the  early  Church  that  it  was  so 
plainly  forewarned  what  it  would  have  to  meet.  Well 
was  it  that  it  could  not  be  surprised  by  the  apparent 
success  of  worldly  power  in  neutralizing  the  Gospel, 
if  was  told  that  the  wild  beast  would  make  war  with 
the  saints,  and  overcome  them,  gain  universal  domin- 
ion over  the  minds  of  men,  and  command  the  worship 
of  all  whose  names  are  not  written  in  the  Lamb's  book 
of  life. 

How  natural,  and  even  necessary,  such  a  result 
seems  !  How  imposing  is  great  worldly  power  ! 
What  an  awe-inspiring  fact  was  that  of  a  throne  which 
ruled  the  whole  civilized  world  !  How 'adapted  to 
bring  the  selfish  heart  into  a  grovelling  submission  and 
a  base  adulation  !  Tiberius,  or  Caligula,  or  Nero 
could  speak  the  words  of  life  or  death  ;  they  could  re- 
ward sycophancy  with  the  revenues  of  provinces  or 
bid  the  most  illustrious  citizen  open  his  own  veins  and 
die.  Everybody  knew  that  the  whole  great  system 
rested  upon  fraud,  that  Tiberius  was  the  greatest  liar 
in  the  world,  as  well  as  the  greatest  sovereign.  What 
of  it  ?  What  bat  tho  deification  of  falsehood  ?  If 
lying  answer  so  good  a  purpose,  lying  seems  divine. 


136  THE    WOULD   LIGHTED. 

This,  perhaps,  was  the  spirit  in  which  Pilate  asked  his 
famous  question,  "  What  is  truth  ?"  What,  indeed, 
must  truth  have  seemed  to  Pilate  as  an  instrument  of 
selfish  aggrandizement  ?  He  had  no  use  for  it.  To 
know  how  to  dissimulate  cunningly,  like  Tiberius,  his 
imperial  master — that  would  be  more  to  the  purpose. 
And  so,  like  most  veteran  politicians  from  that  time  to 
this,  he  deliberately  chose  falsehood  rather  than  truth, 
and  worshipped  the  Devil  rather  than  God  as  the 
founder  of  the  State.  Has  not  diplomacy  come  to 
mean  the  art  of  skilful  lying  ?  How  much  "  good 
Queen  Bess"  thought  it  necessary  to  use  that  kind  of 
diplomacy  !  Napoleon  reached  the  climax  with  his 
military  falsehoods,  until  the  world  learned  to  say 
"  False  as  a  bulletin  !" 

Such  facts  make  lucid  the  statements  of  this  chap- 
ter regarding  the  wild  beast  of  empire.  That  "  the 
dragon  gave  him  his  power,  and  his  throne,  and  great 
authority"  is  an  unveiling  of  the  base  measures  to 
which  civil  rulers  have  owed  their  ascendency.  The 
tremendous  reverses  and  revolutions  in  which  many  a 
worldly  hero  and  many  a  great  government  have 
seemed  about  to  perish,  and  then  by  some  brilliant 
feat  or  some  fortunate  turn  have  been  lifted  to  greater 
glory  than  before,  have  been  among  the  greatest  occa- 
sions of  human  wonder.  When  the  Roman  Empire 
appeared  to  dissolve,  and  then  presented  itself  again 
in  the  form  of  the  Papacy,  it  is  not  strange  that  the 
world  should  have  "wondered  after  the  beast."  It 
is  not  strange  that  men,  who  arc  so  prone  to  worship 
success,  however  obtained,  should  worship  both  the 
beast  and  the  Devil  who  could  give  such  power  to  the 


THE    WIIjD    BEASTS.  137 

beast.  This  was  the  foe  which  the  Church  had  to 
meet  when  it  set  out  to  make  men  wiser  and  better,  a 
foe  armed  with  all  the  weapons  of  the  State  and  en- 
throned in  the  servile  admiration  of  mankind  for  all 
successful  villainy.  What  could  show  "  the  patience 
and  the  faith  of  the  saints  "  more  signally  than  to 
maintain  such  a  conflict,  often  at  the  expense  of 
"  captivity,"  and  often  at  the  cost  of  "  death,"  with 
no  loss  of  confidence  in  those  spiritual  weapons  which 
were  ultimately  to  prove  "  mighty  through  God  to  the 
pulling  down  of  strongholds  ?" 

But  the  trials  of  the  champions  of  the  truth  were 
not  to  prove  greatest  under  the  dominance  of  the 
pa^an  Roman  Empire.  It  is  with  reverential  admira- 
tion that  we  see  that,  centuries  before  it  actually  oc- 
curred, inspiration  clearly  foresaw  that  change  in  the 
ruling  power,  which,  when  it  did  take  place,  was  so 
disguised  as  to  deceive  the  very  elect.  Oh,  that  Chris- 
tians had  understood  the  warning  which,  to  our  eyes, 
appears  so  clear  !  For  that  the  second  wild  beast, 
coming  up  out  of  the  earth,  having  two  horns  like  a 
lamb,  but  speaking  as  a  dragon,  is  the  description  of 
papal  Rome  few  can  doubt. 

It  is  not  necessary,  however,  to  confine  the  proph- 
ecy to  the  Papacy.  The  substitution  of  two  lamb-like 
horns  for  the  seven  heads  and  ten  horns  of  the  first 
beast  speaks  of  a  change  of  policy -in  worldly  powers, 
of  which  the  change  from  pagan  Rome  to  papal  Rome 
is  a  prominent  example.  It  is  the  change  from  a  rale 
of  sheer,  brute  violence  to  a  rule  bolstered  by  fraud 
and  cunning.  Pagan  Rome  proudly  said  that  might 
made  right,  and  it  would  rule  because  it  was  the 


138  THE   WORLD    LIGHTED. 

strongest.  Papal  Rome  covered  the  iron  hand  with  a 
silken  glove,  and  while  meekly  pretending  to  be  the 
servant  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  riveted  its  fetters  upon 
the  minds  and  hearts  of  men,  content  to  obtain  by 
fraud  what  it  lacked  the  force  to  seize. 

All  candid  persons  must  recognize  the  faithfulness 
of  this  prophetic  portraiture  of  the  Romish  Church. 
No  uninspired  mindcould  have  anticipated  the  prodigy, 
which  even  now  seems  too  great  to  be  real.  That  the 
Papacy  came  to  "  exercise  all  the  power  of  the  first 
beast"  through  the  fiction  that  the  Pope  is  God's 
vicegerent  is  a  matter  of  history.  That  this  impos- 
ture was  and  is  supported  by  the  pretended  ability  to 
work  miracles  everybody  knows.  Everybody  may 
not  so  distinctly  see  that  the  great  crime  of  Romanism 
has  been  to  cause  those  who  dwell  in  the  earth  "  to 
worship  the  first  fieast,  whose  deadly  wound  was 
healed. "  What  else  could  be  the  effect  of  that  mighty 
ecclesiasticism  which  lifted  the  Pope,  of  ten  a  man  from 
the  humblest  ranks,  up  into  the  position  of  a  god,  and 
set  his  cardinals  and  bishops  among  and  above  princes  ? 
There  has  never  been  any  system  among  men  which 
tended  to  strengthen  their  love  of  pomp,  their  servil- 
ity before  power,  and  their  faith  in  imposture  like 
Roman  Catholicism. 

The  adaptation  of  priestcraft  to  serve  the  ends  of 
selfish  ambition  is/of  course,  an  old  story — as  old  as 
Egypt  and  her  priestly  kings.  Every  great  oppressor, 
from  Nimrod  to  Napoleon,  has  thought  to  strengthen 
his  tyranny  by  taking  advantage  of  the  religious  in- 
stincts of  the  people.  Priestcraft  has  buttressed  des- 
potism by  adding  to  the  temporal  perils  of  resistance 


THE    WILD    BEASTS.  139 

the  awful  curse  of  God  and  the  pains  of  perdition. 
Coming  in  the  meek  guise  of  a  church,  it  has  spoken 
like  a  dragon.  It  has  kept  the  masses  in  ignorance, 
in  order  the  more  easily  to  hold  them  slaves.  For  the 
image  of  the  emperor  it  has  substituted  the  image  of 
the  Yirgin,  and  perpetuated  all  the  idolatry  of  pagan- 
ism. It  has  put  its  brand  of  ownership  on  its  unfor- 
tunate subjects  in  their  brutal  and  degraded  appear- 
ance. It  has  forbidden  any  who  did  not  grovel  at  its 
feet  to  engage  in  trade,  or  even  to  live  in  peace  at 
their  homes.  Its  reign  has  been  one  of  blood  and  fire, 
and  its  enmity  to  light  and  truth  has  been  that  of  the 
infernal  pit,  out  of  which  it  came.  The  mission  of  the 
Church  to  spread  the  knowledge  of  God  has  met  in 
the  apostate  church  its  most  determined  and  implac- 
able foe. 

One  of  the  most  cunning  devices  of  this  apostate 
church  to  perpetuate  ignorance  and  error  is  probably 
indicated  by  the  closing  verse  of  this  chapter.  It 
gives  the  number  of  the  name  of  the  second  beast  as 
six  hundred  and  sixty-six.  The  latest  and  ablest  stu- 
dents of  this  enigma  agree  that  the  ancient  interpreta- 
tion of  Irensetis  must  be  true,  who  found  this  number 
to  be  the  total,  according  to  the  Greek  method  of 
enumeration,  of  the  value  of  the  component  letters  of 
the  word  Lateinos.  So  interpreted,  it  certainly  docs 
give  its  name  to  the  most  prominent  example  of  the 
lamb-like  beast  and  indicate  one  of  its  principal  de- 
vices for  keeping  the  human  mind  in  ignorance.  That 
device  is  to  adhere,  in  all  lands  and  in  all  ages,  to  a 
Latin  service,  and  so  hide  even  the  meagre  light  of  the 
liomish  ritual  under  the  bushel  of  an  unknown  tongue. 


140  THE   WORLD    LIGHTED. 

Surely  Satan  must  be  credited  with  so  artful  and 
deadly  a  contrivance  to  shut  away  the  light  from  human 
minds.  How  effectual  it  has  been  let  the  records  of 
Catholicism  tell,  which  has  had  a  clear  field  and  entire 
ascendency  now  for  centuries  in  the  most  illiterate 
countries  of  Christendom,  such  as  Ireland,  Spain,  and 
Mexico.  In  those  countries  the  people  remain  in  a 
condition  of  ignorance,  superior  only  to  that  of  savages. 
The  astute  wisdom  of  the  Papacy,  inspired  by  the  dia- 
bolical prince  of  this  world,  succeeded  in  turning  the 
Gospel  lamp  into  a  dark  lantern,  available  chiefly  for 
nefarious  deeds  and  the  murder  of  souls. 


XIII. 

THE   FOBCES    OF    ILLUMINATION. 

THESE  pictures  of  the  two  wild  beasts  and  of  their 
resistance,  so  determined,  to  the  truth  are  most  ap- 
palling. The  question  is  on  our  lips — What  is  the 
Church,  and  what  resources  has  it  at  its  disposal,  that 
it  should  be  able  to  confront  such  mighty  enemies  ? 
Hoar  can  the  terrible  contest  be  expected  to  end  hap- 
pily ?  "With  worldly  power,  and  priestcraft,  and  all 
Satanic  influences  and  forces  leagued  together  to  keep 
the  world  in  darkness  and  sin,  how  can  it  ever  be  il- 
luminated ? 

The  fourteenth  chapter  answers  these  questions,  by 
giving  an  interior  view  of  the  Church,  its  most  essen- 
tial qualifications  to  champion  truth,  and  the  great  prov- 
idential aids  by  which  its  success  is  to  be  accomplished. 

The  Church  which  can  make  headway  against  the 
powers  of  darkness  which  have  been  exhibited  is  not 
the  strong  church  of  modern  parlance,  but  something 
quite  different.  Nothing  is  said  about  its  wealth,  so- 
cial position,  or  the  splendor  of  its  house  of  worship. 
A  kind  of  potency  quite  different  is  indicated  by  the 
description  of  "  a  Lamb  standing  on  Mount  Sion,  with 
one  hundred  and  forty-four  thousand  bearing  His 
name  and  the  name  of  His  Father  written  in  their 
foreheads."  That  means,  of  course,  a  Christ-like 
church,  in  which  Christ  truly  dwells,  and  on  whose 


142  THE    WOULD   LIGHTED. 

•countenances  the  saintly  character  is  written.  When- 
ever a  soul  is  rescued  from  the  bondage  of  ignorance 
and  sin,  its  outward  appearance  becomes  so  transformed 
as  to  show  the  presence  within  it  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  The  added  grace  and  nobility  which  are  con- 
spicuous in  Christians  is  one  means  of  power  over  hos- 
tile forces.  The  names  written  upon  the  forehead  of 
true  disciples  will  eventually  prevail  against  the  ugly 
mask  of  the  beast. 

The  actual  presence  of  the  Lajnb  with  His  Church  is 
its  chief  strength.  The  nearest  which  the  apostate 
church  comes  to  this  is  the  distant  resemblance  to  a 
lamb  given  by  its  two  horns.  But  this  is  only  hypoc- 
risy, while  the  true  Church  is  really  glorified  by  the 
Lord's  presence  with  it  and  in  it.  This  fact  alone 
makes  the  Church  equal  to  all  demands,  and  in  show- 
ing us  the  Lamb  with  His  followers,  inspiration  quells 
our  fears,  as  those  of  the  young  man  with  Elisha  were 
quelled  when  he  saw  "  the  mountain  full  of  chariots 
and  horses  of  fire  round  about  Elisha. " 

There  are  one  hundred  and  forty-four  thousand  with 
the  Lamb — an  exact  number— to  represent  the  solid 
phalanx  of  known  and  enlisted  light-bearers,  from 
whom  is  to  be  expected  the  lighting  up  of  the  world. 
The  items  of  description  which  follow  are  beautiful 
and  impressive  in  the  extreme. 

1.  They  hear  and  learn  the  heavenly  harmonies. 

2.  They  are  absolutely  pure  from  spiritual  adultery 
— i.e.,  idolatry. 

3.  They  obey  Christ  with  the  unquestioning  preci- 
sion of  military  discipline. 

4.  They  are  separate  from  the  world. 


THE   FOUCES   OF   ILLUMINATION.  143 

5.  They  tell  no  lie :  like  Nathanael,  they  are  Israel- 
ites indeed,  in  whom  is  no  guile,  who  love  the  truth, 
the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth. 

The  first  and  last  of  these  characteristics  seem  to 
call  for  special  consideration,  though  all  are  worthy  to 
receive,  and  might  profitably  receive  extended  notice. 
But  these  are  such  needed  traits  in  those  who  arc  set 
to  be  the  teachers  of  our  dull  race,  that  it  is  necessary 
to  dwell  upon  them. 

As  to  the  first,  the  Church  is  represented  as  dwell- 
ing on  Mount  Sion — a  figure  for  spiritual  elevation — 
and  the  top  of  this  holy  mountain  is  near  enough  to 
heaven  to  permit  its  inhabitants  to  hear  and  learn  the 
he*avenly  harmonies.  When  the  harpers  above  strike 
their  golden  harps  and  the  celestial  choir  sing  a  new 
anthem  before  the  throne,  the  Church  on  the  moun- 
tain-top hear  the  melody  and  learn  to  sing  it.  There 
could  be  no  happier  image  of  the  superior  wisdom  of 
Christ's  true  Church  and  its  clear  perception  and  en- 
joyment of  revelations  which  the  ordinary  human  ear 
hath  never  heard.  If  the  Church  could  hear  only  the 
discordant  jangle  of  earth's  discords  ;  if  it  had  no 
means  of  telling  which  among  the  many  sophists  and 
disputers  of  this  world  were  in  the  right,  it  would 
have  no  fitness  to  guide  human  perplexity  out  of  its 
labyrinth.  But  an  ear  so  fine  as  ,to  catch  the  higher 
harmonies  of  heaven,  a  spiritual  culture  great  enough 
to  know  how  to  bring  order  out  of  the  apparent  con- 
fusion and  melody  out  of  the  divine  operations  in 
Nature,  Providence,  and  Grace,  is  well  fitted  to  keep 
itself  in  tune  with  heaven  and  to  help  all  mankind  to 
get  in  tune  at  last. 


144  THE   WORLD    LIGHTED. 

"What  a  difference  there  is  between  persons  in  regard 
to  the  musical  ear  !  One  class  seem  to  be  unable  to 
discover  any  distinction  in  sounds  ;  another  class  no- 
tice dissonance  where  few  can  perceive  it.  To  the 
first  class  all  music  is  only  noise  :  they  cannot  tell  one 
tune  from  another  ;  they  cannot,  by  any  possibility, 
learn  to  sing  any  tune  for  themselves.  To  the  second 
class  much  that  is  called  music  is  only  noise  ;  they 
discern  the  least  differences  in  tunes,  the  least  discord 
in  an  apparent  harmony,  and  they  catch  a  new  tune 
without  effort.  Of  course  it  is  this  latter  class  which 
must  furnish  the  world  with  its  music-masters.  It  is 
only  such  persons  who  can  develop  the  musical  sense 
in  others,  and  train  them  to  sing  together,  until  all 
voices  are  in  entire  accord. 

Now  truth  is  the  perfect  harmony  of  facts  and  state- 
ments which  blend  and  unite  in  the  divinest  agreement. 
To  a  mind  trained  to  perceive  it,  the  exact  concord  of 
concurring  truths  is  entrancing  in  its  sweetness.  The 
cultivated  Christian  sense  of  what  is  delightful  because 
it  is  true  is  forever  re  veiling  in  the  harmony  of  knowl- 
edges which  come  from  all  quarters.  From  history, 
from  science,  from  experience,  from  the  Bible,  come 
announcements  of  the  same  facts,  whose  agreement 
and  mutual  corroboration  it  is  most  agreeable  to  per- 
ceive. The  person  who  hears  and  enjoys  these  heav- 
enly melodies  is  the  person  to  teach  others  how  to  dis- 
tinguish and  enjoy  them  also.  But  the  greater  num- 
ber of  mankind  have  all  this  to  learn.  They  have  no 
nice  sense  of  the  difference  between  truth  and  false- 
hood, and  the  perpetual  discord  of  lie  fighting  with 
lie,  and  misrepresentation  quarrelling  with  misrepre- 


THE   FOKCES   OF   ILLUMINATION.  145 

sentation,  the  horrible  din  of  conflicting  and  irrecon- 
cilable assertions,  does  not  appear  to  disturb  them. 
The  very  sense  of  what  is  fitting  in  statement  is  yet  to 
be  awakened  in  their  souls.  When  they,  too,  demand 
music  instead  of  noise  ;  concurrence  and  agreement 
and  mutual  support  between  fact  and  theory  and  doc- 
trine, and  the  setting  of  earth's  tunes  to  the  music  of 
the  spheres,  they  can  then  join  their  voices  to  the 
grand  chorus  which  hymns  the  divine  praises  above 
and  below. 

The  last  characteristic  of  the  Church  which  is  men- 
tioned is  its  uncompromising  faithfulness  in  teaching 
then-nth.  "  In  their  mouth  was  found  no  lie."  It 
wifl  be  seen  that  this  is  exactly  what  is  needed  to 
complete  the  picture  of  a  divinely  qualified  corps  of 
teachers.  It  is  one  thing  to  be  able  to  perceive  the 
truth  ;  another  to  be  able  to  tell  it.  There  are  those 
whose  perceptions  are  better  than  their  utterances  ; 
who,  seeing  clearly  themselves,  have  not  the  courage 
or  the  grace  to  make  known  their  convictions  to 
others.  But  the  people  who  are  to  light  up  this  dark 
world  are  the  brave  generation  of  truth-tellers.  They 
do  not  hold  the  Jesuitical  theory  that  what  it  may  be 
well  to  know  for  one's  self,  it  may  be  politic  to  keep 
from  others.  They  do  not  make  the  ancient  distinc- 
tion of  the  philosophers  between  the  knowledge  which 
should  be  esoteric  (concealed)  and  that  which  may  be 
exoteric  (made  known)  ;  on  the  contrary,  they  believe 
in  letting  the  light  shine  and  in  preaching  a  whole 
Bible  ;  they  are  not  afraid  of  truth  coming  from  any 
quarter,  and  do  not  understand  the  art  of  telling  pious 
lies  to  those  who  are  supposed  not  to  be  able  to  bear 


146  THE   WOULD    LIGHTED. 

the  whole  truth.  "  In  their  mouth  is  found  no  lie," 
no  half  truth,  no  plausible  sophistry,  no  subtle  decep- 
tion. They  are  teachers  who  can  say  of  themselves 
what  Paul  said  of  himself,  "  not  handling  the  Word  of 
God  deceitfully  ;  but,  by  manifestation  of  the  truth, 
commending  ourselves  to  every  man's  conscience  in 
the  sight  of  God."  Such  teachers  are  the  hope  of 
the  world. 

And  now  follows  the  symbolic  setting  forth  of  cer- 
tain great  providential  developments,  by  which  such 
teaching  is  to  have  its  full  effect. 

The  first  of  these  is  the  upspringing  of  the  mission- 
ary spirit  in  the  Church,  and  the  progress  of  its  oper- 
ations until  it  has  reached  all  mankind  with  its  mes- 
sage. Given  a  "church  which  knows  the  truth  and  is 
willing  to  proclaim  it,  the  next  thing  is  to  send  that 
church  upon  its  mission  to  every  creature.  This  is  set 
forth  by  the  vision  of  "  an  angel  flying  in  mid-heaven, 
having  eternal  good  tidings  to  proclaim  unto  them  that 
dwell  on  the  earth." 

The  second  development  which  is  to  be  of  great 
service  to  the  Church  is  the  downfall  of  the  vast  system 
of  imposture  by  which  wickedness  has  so  long  main- 
tained itself  in  the  world.  For  "  a  second  angel  fol- 
lowed, saying,  Fallen,  fallen,  is  Babylon  the  great, 
which  hath  made  all  the  nations  to  drink  of  the  wine 
of  the  wrath  of  her  fornication."  There  has  been 
much  discussion  of  the  meaning  of  the  term  Babylon. 
It  is  generally  supposed  to  refer  to  pagan  and  papal 
Rome.  I  am  disposed  to  take  it  in  a  wider  sense,  of 
the  whole  immense  confederacy  of  evil,  in  which  fraud 
and  violence  have  sustained  irreligion,  in  its  apparent 


THE    FOItCES    OF    ILLUMINATION.  147 

successes  and  triumphs.  These  successes  have  aston- 
ished and  confounded  the  human  mind,  and  made  it 
seem  as  if  it  were  vain  to  serve  God.  Many  a  blun- 
dering observer  of  the  ways  of  God,  since  and  before 
the  Psalmist,  has  been  very  much  puzzled  by  the 
prosperity  of  the  wicked,  and  has  said,  "  Yerily,  1 
have  cleansed  rny  heart  in  vain,  and  washed  my  hands 
in  innocency. "  Such  appearances  are  great  hindrances 
to  the  acceptance  of  the  truth.  But  the  time  is  com- 
•ing  when  this  hindrance  will  be  removed.  Fraud  will 
not  always  be  able  to  succeed.  The  time  is  coining 
when  not  only  Rome  will  come  to  grief,  but  the  whole 
ba^-system  of  building  power  upon  imposture,  all 
round  the  earth.  That,  it  seems  to  me,  and  nothing 
less  than  that,  is  the  fall  of  Babylon  the  great.  For 
Rome  to  go  down,  only  to  be  succeeded  by  some  other 
form  of  spiritual  tyranny,  would  be  an  event  too  trivial 
to  be  heralded  by  Revelation.  The  event  celebrated 
here  must  be  some  gigantic,  because  universal  and 
final  collapse.  The  overthrow  of  all  that  is  rotten  and 
base  in  man's  dealings  with  man  may  seem  a  great 
deal  to  promise,  but  it  is  no  more  than  would  be  ex- 
pected from  the  figure  before  us.  "  Babylon  the 
great' '  must  be  the  great  world-Babylon.  The  down- 
fall of  any  tyrant,  the  failure  of  any  adventurer,  the 
collapse  of  any  imposture,  the  subversion  of  any  sys- 
tem or  state  which  has  been  built  up  and  maintained 
by  vile  means,  is  a  f  oregleam  of  what  is  finally  to  take 
place  on  the  widest  scale,  when  the  whole  vast  fabric 
of  successful  iniquity  comes  tumbling  down,  and  the 
thieves  and  liars  are  all  exposed  and  recognized.  How 
much  easier  it  will  be  then  to  propagate  the  truth  than 


148  TIIE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

it  is  now  !  Every  soul  will  see  its  own  best  course  in 
that  day,  by  the  light  of  the  blazing  bonfire  with 
which  the  world  will  celebrate  the  destruction  of  the 
wild  beasts  which  have  ravaged  the  earth  so  cruelly. 
A  third  development  now  follows  which  we  might 
anticipate,  the  previous  one  being  understood.  A 
third  angel  proclaims  the  infliction  of  the  wrath  of 
God  upon  the  worshippers  of  the  beast,  and  of  his 
image,  and  those  who  receive  his  mark  on  their  fore- 
heads or  hands.  Of  such  it  is  said  that  they  shall  be 
tormented  "in  the  presence  of  the  holy  angels,  and 
in  the  presence  of  the  Lamb,"  with  much  more  of 
the  same  purport. 

To  understand  this  we  must  ask  ourselves  :  When 
the  time  comes  that  the  missionary  church  has  covered 
the  globe  with  its  stations,  and  the  confederated  evil 
of  the  race  has  reached  its  inevitable  catastrophe,  how 
will  a  man  feel  who  continues  in  the  old,  bad  ways  of 
imposture  ?  It  is  not  a  question  of  hell-fire  or  the 
torments  of  the  other  world,  except  as  these  are  used 
to  throw  light  upon  the  misery  of  being  a  persistent 
sinner  here  after  the  downfall  of  Babylon  the  great. 
We  are  not  to  waste  our  study  on  such  foolish  ques- 
tions as  whether  the  saved  can  be  happy  in  full  view 
;  of  the  damned  \  Curiously  enough,  in  asking  that 
I  question  we  turn  from  the  real  question  of  the  passage, 
which  is,  How  can  the  ungodly  be  happy  in  full  view 
of  a  predominant  godliness  ?  The  symbolism  here  is 
used  to  set  forth  the  future  of  this  present  world  and 
a  state  of  things  highly  favorable  to  the  progress  of 
the  Gospel.  Such,  then,  will  be  the  flourishing  condi- 
tion of  true  religion  and  the  prevalence  of  genuine 


THE    FORCES    OF    ILLUMINATION.  149 

piety  that  men  who  go  wrong  will  be  shamed  and 
tormented  by  a  contrast  with  goodness,  such  as  would 
be  the  case  if  they  were  vile  in  the  presence  of  the 
angels.  It  will  be  a  time  whose  conditions  will  be  the 
exact  reverse  of  the  present,  since  now  a  wicked  man 
can  easily  lose  sight  of  all  goodness  whatever. 

It  is  worth  our  while  to  endeavor,  at  this  point,  to 
discover  the  force  of  the  statement  made  in  the  twelfth 
verse,  which  seems  like  a  tally-mark  of  our  progress. 
It  is  almost  identical  with  a  passage  at  the  close  of  the 
description  of  the  first  wild  beast  (13  :  10),  "  Here  is 
the  patience  and  the  faith  of  the  saints."  Now  it  is 
8/ttd  :  "  Here  is  the  patience  of  the  saints,  they  that 
keep  the  commandments  of  God,  and  the  faith  of 
Jesus.' '  Evidently  in  both  cases  a  word  must  be  sup- 
plied to  complete  the  thought,  but  not  the  same  word. 
In  the  first  case,  at  the  close  of  the  account  of  the  ap- 
palling success  of  the  wild  beast  of  worldty  power  in 
warring  against  the  truth,  and  in  punishing  fidelity  to 
it  with  captivity  and  death,  the  word  to  be  supplied  is 
need  ;  "  Here  is  the  need  of  the  patience  and  the  faith 
of  the  saints."  In  the  second  case,  at  the  close  of 
this  glowing  representation  of  the  time  when  a  bad 
man  on  earth  will  be  as  uncomfortable  and  unhappy 
as  if  he  were  sinning  in  the  presence  of  the  holy 
angels,  the  word  to  be  supplied  is  reward  /  "  Here  is 
the  reward  of  the  patience  of  the  saints,  they  that  keep 
the  commandments  of  God,  and  the  faith  of  Jesus." 
Surely,  when  that  time  comes,  merely  to  live  in  it,  or 
to  contemplate  it  and  feel  that  one  has  helped  it  on, 
will  be  a  magnificent  reward. 

The  natural  and  easy  progress  of  this  line  of  inter- 


150  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

pretation  carries  us  forward  to  the  significance  of  the 
next  statement.  "  Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the 
Lord  from  henceforth  :  yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that  they 
may  rest  from  their  labors  ;  for  their  works  follow 
with  them."  We  are  to  take  these  words  not  so 
much  as  the  description  of  heavenly  felicity  (though 
they  are  that),  as  of  the  peaceful  and  happy  condition 
of  the  earthly  Church  in  the  good  time  coming.  It 
will  be  like  the  state  of  the  sainted  dead,  in  its  com- 
parative freedom  from  toil  and  trial.  By  that  time 
the  hard  work  will  have  been  done  ;  patience  and 
faith  will  have  reached  their  reward  in  conspicuous 
and  commanding  virtue,  and  the  Church  will  have 
the  easy  task  of  a  successful  enterprise  and  a  victori- 
ous cause.  Those  who  have  died  to  self  and  become 
alive  in  the  Lord  will  not  need  to  die  out  of  the  body 
in  order  to  find  rest  from  their  labors,  for  their  works 
will  follow  with  them  in  great  and  blessed  results  as 
fast  as  they  are  performed. 

But  one  further  development  is  needed  to  complete 
the  series — a  twofold  development,  which  has  been 
already  more  than  suggested.  That  is,  that  the  Chris- 
tian teachers  of  the  world  should  have  troop  to  their 
aid,  the  accumulated  consequences  of  all  teaching, 
good  and  bad  ;  of  all  actions,  good  01  bad,  in  all  ages. 
The  earlier  ages  of  the  world  are  ages  of  seed-sowing  ; 
truth  is  disseminated  of  which  no  immediate  effect  is 
seen  ;  principles  are  implanted  which  fail,  for  a  time, 
to  bring  forth  any  proper  fruit.  Likewise,  evil  is 
done,  error  is  taught,  without  any  apparent  mischief, 
and  mankind  conclude  that  truth  and  error,  good  and 
evil,  have  110  radically  opposite  results.  But  by  and 


THE   FORCES    OF   ILLUMINATION.  151 

by  these  results  will  have  accumulated,  and  ripened, 
and  manifested  themselves  in  such  a  way  that  they 
can  no  longer  fail  to  be  seen.  All  that  mankind  have 
ever  said  or  done  will  reach  its  inevitable  fruition. 
The  blessed  work  done  by  the  faithful  of  all  lands, 
and  of  all  generations,  will  have  gathered  its  resistless 
momentum,  and  the  real  character  of  all  shams  and  sins 
will  be  finally  and  completely  exposed  by  the  calamities 
which  they  will  have  produced.  It  will  be  the  harvest- 
time  of  the  world,  and  men  will  walk  in  the  light  of  the 
vast  sum  of  human  experience.  The  foolish  experi- 
ments of  mankind  having  all  ended  disastrously,  and 
the  wisdom  of  God  having  been  vindicated  by  cen- 
tftries  of  happiness  and  glory,  the  teachers  of  the  truth 
will  have  everything  to  corroborate,  and  nothing  to 
throw  doubt  on  their  instructions. 

Such  must  be  the  meaning  of  the  visions  of  harvest 
and  vintage  with  which  the  chapter  closes.  As  we 
see  the  "  white  cloud,"  and  one  sitting  upon  it  "  like 
unto  the  Son  of  man,  having  on  His  head  a  golden 
crown,  and  in  His  hand  a  sharp  sickle,"  we  behold 
the  image  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  upon  earth  com- 
ing into  its  promised  inheritance  of  all  the  good  for 
which  former  ages  were  the  preparation.  And  as  we 
see  the  angel  with  his  sharp  sickle,  appointed  to  gather 
the  accursed  vintage  of  earth,  and  to  cast  it  into  the 
wine-press  of  the  wrath  of  God,  we  may  rejoice  again 
that  the  evil  side  of  human  experience  is  among  the 
"  all  things"  which  "  work  together  for  good  to  them 
that  love  God." 


XIV. 


THK    EKA    OF   JTJDGMEIfTS. 


IT  is  evident  that  we  have  now  been  brought  by  the 
dramatic  action  of  the  Apocalypse  t6  the  Era  of  Judg- 
ments. By  this  I  mean,  not  the  Judgment  Day,  but 
a  period  of  earthly  and  temporal  judgments,  by  which 
God  will  assist  and  complete  the  triumph  of  the  truth 
in  the  days  to  come.  At  the  beginning  of  the  world's 
history  judgments  had  an  important  part  in  the  moral 
education  of  the  race.  The  flood,  the  fiery  storm  that 
fell  upon  Sodom  and  its  sister  cities,  the  ten  plagues 
which  were  visited  upon  Egypt,  were  all  inflictions,  of 
judicial  punishment  by  which  the  cause  of  truth  and 
lighteousness  was  greatly  advanced.  In  like  manner, 
we  are  here  taught,  God  will  interpose  in  the  future. 
There  will  come  a  time  when  great  and  signal  judg- 
ments of  God  upon  the  wicked  will  again  come  to  the 
aid  of  the  Church,  to  break  down  the  unbelief  of  the 
world  and  to  paralyze  its  resistance. 

The  description  of  the  terrible  vintage  of  human 
wickedness,  with  which  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  the 
Revelation  closes,  has  already  introduced  us  to  this 
era  of  judgments.  But  the  fifteenth  chapter  describes 
its  formal  inauguration,  and  ehows  the  fitness  of  all 
things,  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  for  its  arrival. 

Again,  as  at  each  other  great  epoch  of  the  prophecy, 
we  are  in  heaven.  The  description  1*3  not  fall,  as 


THE    ERA   OF  JUDGMENTS.  133 

in  the  fourth  chapter,  but  sufficient  of  the  symbols 
which  occur  there  are  given  to  indicate  the  same 
scene.  The  sea  of  glass  before  the  throne,  and  one  of 
the  four  living  creatures,  are  particularly  mentioned. 
It  was  unnecessary  to  mention  the  rest  that  we  might 
recall  the  "  One  like  unto  a  jasper  and  sardine  stone" 
(white  light  mingled  with  fire),  who  sat  upon  the 
throne,  the  four-and- twenty  elders  who  sat  upon  their 
thrones,  the  seven  lamps  burning  before  the  throne, 
the  four  living  creatures  full  of  eyes  within  and  with- 
out, and  that  we  might  remember  that  heaven  is  thus 
pictured  to  us  as  a  source  of  illumination  for  the  world. 
Aiuaddition  to  this  picture,  which  confirms  its  import, 
is  "the  temple  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  testimony," 
which  is  opened  for  the  purpose  of  adding  to  the  di- 
vine testimony  previously  given  something  irresistibly 
convincing.  God  has  arrows  of  truth  yet  in  His  quiver 
which  He  will  shoot,  to  the  discomfiture  of  all  His 
enemies. 

What  this  new  and  final  testimony  is  is  signified 
by  the  appearance  in  heaven  of  seven  angels  having 
the  seven  last  plagues.  The  term  "  plague"  carries 
us  back  to  the  history  of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt,  and 
we  remember  how  effectually  plagues  were  used  in 
their  behalf  against  the  consolidated  power  of  the 
world-forces  of  that  age.  Imperialism  was  there, 
priestcraft  was  there,  sorcery  was  there,  and  all  that 
the  wisdom  of  this  world  could  do  when  inspired  by 
Satanic  malice  was  met,  and  matched,  and  broken, 
by  the  power  of  God  manifested  in  judgments.  So  it 
is  to  be  at  the  last ;  and  if  now  the  wild  beast  of  poli- 
tics, and  the  dragon  of  the  pit,  and  the  lamb-dragon 


154  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

of  an  apostate  church,  with  all  their  allies  and  emis- 
saries, appear  too  mighty  for  us,  when  God  shall 
make  bare  His  arm  the  Church  of  the  latter  day  will 
triumph,  as  did  that  of  the  earlier. 

Yes,  this  world  is  to  be  enlightened  ;  all  its  mis- 
takes and  errors  are  to  be  corrected  ;  everybody  is  to 
understand  the  real  character  of  God  and  the  facts  of 
His  administration  ;  but  this  is  to  be  brought  about 
chiefly  by  the  testimony  of  God  concerning  Himself. 
The  One  like  unto  a  jasper  and  sardine  stone  is  the 
spiritual  Sun  of  the  universe,  and  it  is  because  He 
will  continue  to  shine  that  the  dark  places  of  earth 
must  be  lighted  up.  There  must  be  a  change,  how- 
ever, in  the  character  of  the  light  before  this,  purpose 
can  be  accomplished.  At  the  era  of  judgments  de- 
scribed in  this  chapter  the  red  ray  of  wrath  will  so 
predominate  as  to  cause  the  crystal  pavement  beneath 
and  before  the  throne  to  be  shot  through  and  through 
with  fire.  In  this  way  is  to  be  explained  the  fact  that 
now,  for  the  first  time  among  all  the  references  to  it 
in  the  Scriptures,  this  sea  of  glass  is  said  to  be  "  min- 
gled with  fire." 

All  expositors,  so  far  as  I  have  seen,  even  the  best, 
become  incoherent  in  their  attempts  to  explain  this 
glassy  sea.  They  seem  to  lose  sight  of  its  previous 
appearances  in  the  record  of  the  divine  dealings  with 
men,  and  fail  to  interpret  it  in  accordance  with  those 
appearances.  The  effort  is  to  conceive  of  it  as  a  part 
of  the  material  scenery  of  heaven,  as  if  here  we  had  a 
bit  of  landscape  from  Paradise.  Interpreters  adduce 
the  picture  of  the  closing  chapter  of  the  book,  where 
the  river,  clear  as  crystal,  flows  between  banks  clad  in 


THE   ERA    OF   JUDGMENTS.  155 

the  verdure  of  the  tree  of  life,  as  if  this,  too,  were  a 
glimpse  of  heavenly  scenery,  and  the  two  must  be 
harmonized  with  each  other'.  In  accordance  with  this 
conception  the  revised  version,  with  the  general  ap- 
proval, I  think,  of  expositors,  has  changed  the  word 
upon,  denoting  the  situation  of  the  heavenly  harpers, 
to  by,  because,  evidently,  creatures  of  flesh  and  blood 
like  ourselves  could  not  stand  upon  a  sea,  but  only  by 
it.  The  possibility  that,  in  the  glorified  state,  even 
we  may  escape  from  material  conditions  and  be  able 
to  stand  on  a  sea,  as  our  Lord  did,  does  not  seem  to 
have  occurred  to  any  one. 

But  this  reminds  us  again  that,  in  studying  this 
book,  we  must  constantly  keep  before  us  the  fact  that 
we  are  not  in  a  literal  world,  but  only  in  a  world  of 
symbols.  That  is  a  very  hard  thing  to  do,  but  we 
must  do  it  or  be  led  away  into  some  error.  Symbols 
can  stand  anywhere,  on  a  sea  as  well  as  by  it.  The 
question  is,  What  does  their  standing  on  it  signify 
more  than  would  be  signified  by  position  by  it  ?  To 
answer  this  question  we  must  get  a  correct  conception 
of  the  meaning  of  the  crystal  sea.  We  could  omit  the 
interpretation  of  this  symbol  in  our  consideration  of 
the  fourth  chapter,  but  now  it  becomes  necessary  to 
understand  it. 

The  first  mention  of  it  in  the  Scriptures  is  in  the 
twenty-fourth  chapter  of  Exodus,  where  is  described 
the  vision  of  God  by  the  seventy  elders.  "  They  saw 
the  God  of  Israel :  and  there  was  under  His  feet  a 
paved  work  of  a  sapphire  stone,  and  as  it  were  the 
body  of  heaven  in  His  clearness"  The  next  is  in  the 
account  of  Ezekiel's  vision,  "  The  likeness  of  the 


156  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

firmament  upon  the  heads  of  the  living  creature  was 
as  the  color  of  the  terrible  crystal,  and  above  the  fir- 
mament that  was  over  their  heads  was  the  likeness  of  a 
throne,  as  the  appearance  of  a  sapphire  stone."  Now 
when  in  the  fourth  of  Revelation  we  read  that  "  be- 
fore the  throne  there  was  a  sea  of  glass  like  unto  crys- 
tal," and  then  in  the  fifteenth  chapter  come  to  the 
"  sea  of  glass  mingled  with  fire,"  we  cannot  fail  to 
perceive  that  this  sea  before  the  throne  is  identical 
with  the  firmament  beneath  the  throne  of  the  earlier 
Scriptures.  It  is  t\\e  foundation  of  God's  government 
at  which  we  are  looking,  and  what  is  that  ?  Surely 
not  anything  material.  He  does  not  have  to  pile  up 
opaque  matter  to  set  His  throne  upon.  With  Him, 
supremely,  "  knowledge  is  power ;"  His  absolute 
comprehension  of  all  facts  and  truths  is  the  necessary 
basis  of  His  administration.  Of  that  knowledge,  that 
omniscience,  the  crystal  expanse  which  spreads  above 
our  heads  is  a  fitting  symbol.  He  to  whom  that  ex- 
panse is  as  firm  as  mountain  rocks,  and  who  looks 
through  that  expanse  to  behold  all  lives  and  all  ac- 
tions, lie  is  the  Ruler  of  the  universe. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  understand  the  sublime 
position  of  the  saints  in  this  vision.  It  is  a  position 
which  speaks  of  marvellous  progress  in  the  understand- 
ing of  the  truth.  When  last  we  saw  these  saints  they 
were  with  the  Lamb,  it  is  true,  but  upon  the  earthly 
elevation  of  Mount  Sion.  They  were  near  enough  to 
heaven  to  hear  the  heavenly  harps,  and  to  catch  aiid 
learn  the  new  song  which  floated  down  to  them  from 
the  celestial  heights.  But  now  where  are  they  ?  Up 
above  the  crystal  pavement  which  supports  God's 


THE    EUA    OP    JUDGMENTS.  157 

throne,  sharing  with  Him  the  wide  prospect  over  all 
His  vast  domain.  They  are  no  longer  listening,  with 
hated  hreath,  to  catch  the  distant  harmonies  and  learn 
them  ;  they  are  now  themselves  harpers,  and  able  to 
take  their  turn  in  instructing  other  pupils.  And  in- 
stead of  its  being  vaguely  reported  that  they  are  learn- 
ing a  new  song,  we  are  now  told  just  what  they  sing. 
It  is  the  song  of  Moses  and  of  the  Lamb,  saying, 
"  Great  and  marvellous  arc  Thy  works,  O  Lord  God 
the  Almighty  ;  righteous  and  true  are  Thy  ways, 
Thou  King  of  the  ages." 

Now  that  God's  people  should  come  to  such  supe- 
rioEJ,ntelligence  by  passing  into  His  presence  in  heaven 
is  a  matter  of  course,  and  scarcely  need  be  told  us  by 
revelation.  But  that  Christian  knowledge  in  this  world 
shall  ever  reach  this  stage  of  enlightenment  we  should 
not  be  able  to  believe  apart  from  a  revelation.  Such 
a  revelation  we  have  in  this  chapter.  We  must  be- 
ware of  taking  it  as  a  picture  of  the  future  life,  for 
thus  we  miss  its  most  important  teaching.  As  in  other 
similar  passages  of  the  book,  heaven  is  usod  as  a 
prophecy  of  what  earth  shall  yet  be. 

The  description  of  the  heavenly  harpers  is  not  to  be 
explained  by  saying  that  they  are  Christians  who  have 
died  and  gone  to  heaven.  R  ither  are  they  Christians 
who  have  proved  superior  to  all  the  impostures,  and 
maintained  the  truth  against  all  the  knavery  and 
cruelty  of  the  Devil  and  his  emissaries,  and  succeeded 
in  putting  falsehood  and  error  to  flight.  Nothing  less 
than  this  can  be  meant  when  it  is  said  that  they  have 
"  come  victorious  from  the  beast,  and  from  his  image, 
and  from  the  number  of  his  name. "  This  must  mean, 


158  TIIE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

not  only  that  they  themselves  have  been  preserved 
from  delusion,  but  that  they  have  been  able  to  give 
delusion  itself  its  death-blow.  Such  is  the  clearness 
of  their  own  views  of  truth,  and  such  their  power  to 
convince  men  of  those  views,  that  they  may  be  regard- 
ed as  standing  with  God  upon  the  crystal  pavement  of 
His  throne,  and  striking  the  harps  from  which  sound 
the  entrancing  harmonies  of  heaven.  They  sing  the 
wonderful  works  and  righteous  ways  of  Gocl,  and  they 
are  permitted  to  feel  that  all  the  nations  are  to  como 
and  worship  before  Him.  They  are  themselves,  in  this 
last  great  fight  of  the  ages,  where  Moses  and  Israel 
were  when  the  Red  Sea  closed  over  their  pursuers. 
These  latter-day  saints  are  so  happy  as  to  have  reached 
the  farther  shore  of  that  mighty  sea  of  error  which 
has  so  long  threatened  to  swallow  up  all  the  hopes  of 
the  human  race. 

The  parallel  between  the  means  by  which  the  He- 
brews triumphed  and  those  by  which  the  Church  is 
to  gain  its  final  victory  is  exact.  In  both  cases  plagues 
or  judgments  accomplish  the  purpose.  In  the  first 
case  it  was  ten  plagues  ;  here  it  is  seven  ;  but  seven  is 
a  perfect  number,  and  means  all  that  are  necessary. 
These  judgments  are  executed  by  angels  who  come 
forth  from  the  sanctuary  clothed  in  white  raiment,  and 
girded,  like  the  Son  of  man,  with  golden  girdles,  to 
set  forth  the  conviction  of  the  perfect  justice  of  these 
visitations  which  is  to  prevail  upon  earth  at  the  time 
of  their  coming.  Another  sign  of  the  same  fact  is 
that  the  seven  vials,  or  bowls,  which  contain  the  seven 
plagues,  are  presented  to  the  seven  angels  by  one  of 
the  four  living  creatures  who  are  full  of  eyes,  which 


THE    ERA    OF   JUDGMENTS.  159 

symbolizo  the  created  intelligence  of  the  world.  This 
means  that  the  necessity  and  justice  of  these  divine 
judgments  are  generally  understood  ;  they  are  sent  in 
answer  to  the  demand  of  all  created  beings.  God  will 
not  let  fall  this  last  stroke  upon  human  wickedness 
until  all  rational  beings  comprehend  its  propriety.  It 
will  be  a  stroke  which  there  will  be  no  recalling, 
against  which  there  will  be  no  interposition  ;  no  medi- 
ator will  strive  to  arrest  it  and  no  saint  will  pray  that 
it  may  be  averted,  for  all  will  feel,  above  and  below, 
that  it  is  a  stroke  which  ought  to  fall. 

Such  a  situation  is  impressively  represented  by  the 
statement  that  "  the  temple  was  filled  with  smoke 
from  the  glory  of  God,  and  from  His  power  ;  and 
none  was  able  to  enter  into  the  temple  till  the  seven 
plagues  of  the  seven  angels  should  be  finished." 
"When  justice,  and  the  necessities  of  Christ's  cause, 
and  the  convictions  of  all  intelligent  creatures  demand 
judgments,  how  certain  they  are  to  come  !  The  high- 
est attributes  of  God  guarantee  them. 


XV. 

THE    SEVEN    VIALS. 

THE  sixteenth  chapter  of  the  Apocalypse  is  a  de- 
scription of  the  judgments,  or  plagues,  by  which  God 
will  give  His  truth  the  victory.  If  we  find  it  hard  to 
gain  distinct  conceptions  of  the  details  of  the  symbol- 
ism, it  may  be  because  we  are  dealing  with  a  proph- 
ecy of  events  yet  future,  whose  exact  nature  can  never 
be  comprehended  until  they  occur. 

One  thing,  however,  is  perfectly  clear,  the  terrific 
completeness  of  these  judgments  as  a  whole  upon  all 
forms  of  error.  If  one  allow  his  imagination  to  paint 
to  itself  the  appearances  described  in  this  account  of 
the  seven  vials,  he  will  find  that  the  globe  and  all  that 
pertains  to  it  are  involved  in  a  catastrophe  from  which 
nothing  has  escaped.  It  is  the  world  of  sinners  which 
has  met  with  such  utter  disaster  ;  for  a  time  we  lose 
sight  entirely  of  the  world  of  the  righteous,  who  look 
on  and  behold  the  tremendous  consequences  which 
persistent  wickedness  has  drawn  down  upon  itself. 

Imagine,  now,  every  land  of  the  habitable  earth  to 
become  the  terror-stricken  abode  of  a  blighting  pesti- 
lence in  consequence  of  the  pouring  out  of  the  con- 
tents of  the  first  vial.  Let  the  horrors  of  the  plague 
in  India,  or  of  the  cholera  in  Italy,  or  of  the  yellow- 
fever  in  our  own  South,  become  familiar  sights  all 
over  the  world  !  Then,  at  the  pouring  out  of  the  sec- 


THE    SEVEN    VIALS.  161 

ond  vial,  let  the  blue  ocean  which  surrounds  the  con- 
tinents become  blood  red,  and  let  all  the  living  creat- 
ures which  are  in  it  perish  and  be  cast  up  upon  its 
shores  in  putrefying  heaps.  Then,  at  the  third  vial, 
let  the  bright  streams  which  rush  down  the  hill-sides, 
and  all  the  rivers  that  flow  through  the  lands,  be  turned 
into  blood,  from  which  the  thirsty  multitudes  turn 
away  with  loathing.  Then,  at  the  fourth  vial,  let  the 
sun  become  so  intensified  in  its  fiery  energy  as  to  make 
the  world  a  furnace  of  torture,  and  force  mankind  to 
burrow  in  caverns  to  escape  its  intolerable  rays  ! 
Then,  at  the  fifth  vial,  let  the  artificial  brightness 
which  the  wicked  have  the  skill  to  produce  in  their 
dwellings  cease  to  be  possible,  and  let  a  dreadful  dark- 
ness, like  that  of  old  Egypt,  fill  all  the  places  of  sinful 
indulgence  !  Then,  at  the  sixth  vial,  let  the  natural 
barriers,  like  the  Euphrates,  which  serve  to  hold  in 
check  the  angry  nations,  be  removed,  and  the  wild 
tide  of  war  sweep,  unresisted,  around  the  globe  !  And 
when  men  have  quarrelled  and  fought  with  each  other 
until  the  spirit  of  peace  can  no  longer  be  found  any- 
where, let  the  lying  emissaries  of  evil  succeed  in  unit- 
ing them  in  one  vast  confederacy  against  God,  and 
bring  them  in  mighty  array  upon  some  prodigious  bat- 
tle-field !  And  then,  at  the  seventh  and  last  vial 
poured  into  the  air,  let  the  whole  circumambient  at- 
mosphere burst  into  flame  and  explosion,  and  the 
heavens  above,  and  the  earth  beneath,  be  thrown  into 
convulsions,  to  swallow  up  and  annihilate  all  the  foes 
of  the  Almighty  !  Such  is  the  picture  which  Revela- 
tion has  given  us  of  the  final  judgments  by  which  God 
will  vindicate  His  cause  and  establish  His  purpose. 


162  THE    WOULD    LIGHTED. 

It  is  impossible  to  imagine  any  scene,  or  succession  of 
scenes,  more  terrible  in  their  appearance  or  more 
complete  in  their  devastation. 

All  this,  however,  is  imagery,  sublimely  significant, 
but  not  for  a  moment  to  be  literally  taken.  World- 
wide disasters  like  those  portrayed  would  involve  all 
classes,  good  and  bad,  in  a  common  destruction.  We 
must  constantly  keep  in  mind  that,  at  that  stage  of 
human  history  which  the  prophecy  has  now  reached, 
the  Church  of  God  will  be  in  a  condition  of  high 
prosperity,  and  truth  well  on  toward  its  final  triumph. 
The  calamities  here  described  will  overtake  only  the 
persistently  ungodly,  and  because  their  ungodliness  is 
so  persistent.  It  will  overtake  them  in  response  to 
the  united  cry  of  earth  and  heaven  that  such  sinners 
should  meet  with  the  fate  which  their  obstinacy  has 
provoked.  And  their  plagues  will  be  all  the  more 
awful  that  they  stand  in  such  marked  contrast  to  the 
happiness  and  prosperity  of  the  children  of  God  upon 
the  earth.  It  will  be  as  when  the  darkness  that  could 
be  felt  reigned  overall  the  land  of  Egypt,  while  at  the 
same  time  light,  beautiful  light,  was  in  all  the  dwell- 
ings of  the  Hebrews.  The  two  ways— the  way  of  sin 
and  the  way  of  holiness — will  have  reached  their  widest 
divergence,  and  those  who  are  in  each  will  learn  from 
the  just  judgments  of  God  what  a  difference  there  is 
between  the  u  path  of  the  just"  and  the  "  way  of  the 
transgressor."  The  judgments  themselves,  while  of  a 
character  sufficiently  awful  to  justify  the  tremendous 
imagery  used  to  set  them  forth,  must,  at  the  same 
time,  be  so  far  local  and  personal  as  to  be  strictly 
confined  to  those  who  deserve  them. 


THE   SEVEN   VIALS.  1G3 

To  give  a  clear  arid  consistent  explanation  of  the 
objects  upon  which  the  seven  vials  of  God's  wrath  are 
said  to  be  poured  out  is  more  than  any  one  has  ever 
yet  done — more,  perhaps,  than  any  one  can  do.  Many 
excellent  suggestions  have  been  given,  and  the  trend, 
both  of  ancient  and  modern  interpretation,  in  this 
part  of  the  Apocalypse,  is  in.  harmony  with  the  ideas 
which  have  been  made  prominent  in  this  study  of  the 
book.  The  later  commentaries  regard  the  great  war 
of  this  chapter  as  a  war  of  ideas.  But  to  say  just 
what  is  meant  by  the  earth,  the  sea,  the  fountains,  the 
sun,  the  throne  of  the  beast,  the  river  Euphrates,  and 
tho^air,  and  to  make  us  feel  that  the  explanation  is 
thoroughly  consistent  with  itself  and  with  all  the  facts 
to  be  considered,  is  a  good  deal  more  than  any  author 
has  yet  succeeded  in  doing,  and  I  frankly  confess  that 
I  offer  my  own  solution,  after  much  reflection,  with 
great  diffidence. 

By  the  earth  I  imagine  to  be  intended  that  which 
is  most  substantial  in  the  arrangements  of  ungodly  so- 
ciety, its  organization  and  civilization,  the  ties  by 
which  it  is  bound  together,  and  the  mutual  help  by 
which  its  parts  support  each  other.  This  order, 
though  quite  selfish  in  its  motive,  is  yet  a  great  earthly 
good,  and  apes,  in  its  appearances  and  pretensions, 
the  nobler  order  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Under 
its  shelter  the  pleasures  and  comforts  of  life  find  ref- 
uge, and  make  earth,  to  the  unspi ritual  eye,  seem  to 
outrival  heaven  as  a  place  of  abode.  At  present  we 
see  the  best  results  of  this  earthly  order,  and  men 
praise  civilization  at  the  expense  of  Christianity.  But 
the  time  is  to  come  when  civilization  without  Chris- 


1G4  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

tianity  will  be  seen  to  bo  only  a  hollow  shall,  a  show 
rather  than  a  substance,  and  having  had  time  to  work 
out  its  proper  results,  it  will  look  as  hideous  as  it  really 
is.  -The  evil  at  its  heart  will  come  to  the  surface,  and 
make  it  such  a  source  of  trouble  and  pain  that  it  will 
have  to  be  cast  out  of  human  regard  as  something 
leprous. 

By  the  sea  1  would  understand  the  very  opposite 
tendency  of  human  nature  to  that  which  binds  it  to- 
gether, the  tendency  to  fly  asunder  in  hopeless  confu- 
sion. This  tendency,  though  springing  from  precisely 
the  same  selfish  root  as  its  opposite,  is  mistaken  by 
many  for  the  very  perfection  of  goodness.  Under  the 
names  of  freedom  and  independence  it  is  even  wor- 
shipped as  a  kind  of  god,  and  men  imagine  that  its 
possession  is  heaven  upon  earth.  That  which  is  true 
only  of  the  nobler  liberty  of  the  children  of  God  is 
attributed  to  this  spurious  liberty,  which  consists  really 
in  the  freedom  to  indulge  all  sjnful  lusts  and  passions 
without  restraint.  But  this  wicked  sea,  whose  waters 
cast  up  mire  and  dirt,  and  whose  waves  foam  out  their 
own  shame,  is  to  be  revealed  by  its  results  in  its  true 
character.  Socialism  and  anarchy  are  to  be  its  bloody 
fruit  until  all  the  world  has  been  taught  its  vile  nature. 

By  the  rivers  and  fountains  of  waters  I  suppose  to 
be  meant  the  sources  of  ungodly  opinions  and  the 
currents  of  sinful  thought  to  be  found  in  ungodly 
teaching,  whether  through  the  press,  institutions  of 
learning,  the  lecture  platform,  the  heretical  pulpit,  or 
any  other  means  of  communicating  ideas.  The  vast 
extent  to  which  false  notions  are  promulgated  in  vari- 
ous .ways,  and  the  confidence  which  is  given  to  all 


THE   SEVEN   VIALS.  165 

these  deceivers  and  their  deceptions,  is  one  of  the  most 
fearful  aspects  in  which  a  thoughtful  rnind  can  view 
human  society.  These  turbid  streams  of  intellectual 
corruption  which  flow  through  every  hamlet  and  every 
household  appear  to  the  unwise  as  bright  and  clear 
as  mountain  rivulets,  and  far  more  sparkling  and  re- 
freshing than  that  river  of  holy  truth,  the  streams 
whereof  make  glad  the  city  of  our  God.  But  it  will 
not  always  be  so.  The  time  is  to  come  when  false 
teaching  will  have  produced  its  results,  will  have  led 
to  the  misery  which  is  its  legitimate  effect,  and  men 
will  be  made  to  realize  that  the  reading  of  a  bad  book, 
oirof  a  vile  newspaper,  or  the  listening  to  an  infidel 
Address,  is  like  having  blood  to  drink. 

By  the  sun  must  be  meant  the  true  source  of  spiritual 
illumination,  God's  Word,  and  the  means  by  which 
its  revelations  are  made  known  to  men.  The  Bible 
ought  to  be  a  blessing  to  every  child  of  our  race, 
but  it  can  be  a  curse,  and  must  be  to  those  who  do  not 
make  a  good  use  of  it.  To  a  bad  man  all  blessings 
become  curses,  and  the  greatest  blessings  the  worst 
curses.  Getting  proof-texts  out  of  the  Bible  for  a  false 
system  is  a  course  which  must  have  terrible  conse- 
quences. And,  in  the  long  run,  the  difference  between 
a  reverent  study  of  the  Word  of  God  and  a  frivolous 
or  blasphemous  use  of  it  is  to  show  itself  in  the  suffer- 
ing which  will  befall  the  perverse.  In  the  good  time 
coining,  when  the  Scriptures  are  to  be  in  every  human 
hand,  they  must  either  enlighten  and  comfort  with  a 
benignly  heightened  power,  or  scorch  and  blast  with 
a  fierceness  which  shall  seem  intolerable. 

By  the  throne  of  the  Beast  is  generally  understood 


1G6  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

the  seat  of  the  Papacy,  but  this  seems  too  narrow  a 
conception  to  deserve  so  large  a  title.  No  doubt  the 
Papacy  belongs  to  the  Beast,  but  he  owns  a  great  deal 
more  and  worse.  We  must  remember  that  in  the 
series  of  objects  mentioned  as  affected  by  the  blowing 
of  the  seven  trumpets,  a  series  almost  identical  with 
this,  the  place  of  the  "  throne  of  the  beast"  is  occu- 
pied by  the  "  bottomless  pit."  •  What  can  the  bot- 
tomless pit  stand  for  in  this  world,  but  for  all  that  is 
worst  and  most  diabolical  in  human  life  ?  The  beast 
founds  his  throne  not  only  upon  popish  imposture 
and  priestly  tyranny,  but  also  upon  every  species  of 
sin  which  is  found  in  the  world.  This  throne  is  wher- 
ever men  do  wickedly  with  the  least  hesitation  or 
pretence  of  something  better.  It  is  in  the  slums,  in 
the  saloons,  in  the  brothels,  in  robbers'  row  and  mur- 
derers' alley.  In  all  these  places  Satan  reigns  beyond 
dispute,  arid  they  may  well  be  called  his  kingdom  by 
pre-  eminence.  This  kingdom  of  night,  whose  darkness 
is  illuminated  chiefly  by  artificial  means,  because  it 
abhors  the  light  of  day,  is  destined  to  be  plunged  in  a 
midnight  from  which  there  shall  be  no  escape. 

By  the  river  Euphrates,  as  already  intimated,  must 
be  meant  the  natural  barriers  which  fence  nations 
apart,  and  keep  the  different  sections  of  the  earth  from 
affecting  one  another.  The  river  Euphrates  was,  for 
ages,  the  obstruction  which  kept  the  human  hive  to  the 
eastof  it  from  swarming  over  on  to  the  Western  nations. 
No  man  can  realize  the  unspeakable  benefit  to  the 
Western  peoples  from  being  thus  shut  away  from  the 
evils  which  had  grown  gigantic  in  their  long-time 
dwelling-place.  But  the  tendency  of  modern  civiliza- 


1 

THE   SEVEN   VIALS.  107 

tion  is  to  throw  down  all  barriers  between  nations,  and 
to  cause  them  to  meet  and  mingle  in  a  common  life. 
The  pursuit  o£  gain  or  of  other  selfish  objects  sets 
the  current  of  humanity  to  moving  all  round  the  world. 
The  result  of  this  intermingling,  to  those  who  have 
no  safeguard  against  it,  must  be  pernicious.  All 
merely  conventional  morality,  all  superficial  virtue, 
all  only  formal  religion,  must  perish  in  this  process. 
Every  kingdom,  except  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  will 
be  so  shaken  as  to  disclose  the  worthlessness  of  its 
foundations. 

What  can  be  meant  by  the  air  upon  which  the  sev- 
enth vial  is  poured  ?  It  must  be  something  as  all- 
iifclusiveas  the  atmosphere.  It  must  be  something  as 
vital  as  the  breath.  1  can  think  of  nothing  which  ful- 
fils these  conditions  except  God  Himself.  I  remember 
that  the  "  wind  which  blowelh  where  it  listeth"  is  the 
symbol  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  that  we  are  said  to 
"  live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being"  in  God.  This 
is  true  of  the  wicked  as  well  as  of  the  righteous. 
They  are  as  truly  in  God  as  they  are  in  the  atmos- 
'  phere.  The  kingdom  of  evil  is  surrounded  on  every 
side  by  Him  who  includes  all  things  in  Himself.  The 
fatal  fact  about  all  the  dark  empire  of  the  Devil  is  that 
it  is  in  contact  everywhere  with  the  Blessed  One. 
Minor  calami  ties  can  spring  from  the  misuse  of  subor- 
dinate good,  but  when  God  Himself  becomes  a  curse 
to  His  creatures,  how  great  the  curse  must  be  !  If 
the  manifold  relationship  of  men  to  God  turns  against 
them,  it  will  be  as  if  the  whole  atmosphere  about  the 
earth  became  an  inflammable  gas,  and  a  spark  touched 
it  all  into  explosion. 


168  THE   WORLD   LIGHTED. 

These  seven  plagues,  like  those  of  Egypt,  are  to  be 
regarded  partly  as  natural  results  and  partly  as  tre- 
mendous aggravations  of  those  results  by  the  divine 
fiat.  The  pouring  out  of  the  vials,  or  bowls,  indicates 
a  positive  exertion  of  divine  power  in  the  way  of  pun- 
ishment. 

The  effects  of  these  plagues  upon  the  minds  of  the 
human  race  I  suppose  to  be  indicated  at  three  points 
in  the  narrative  :  after  the  third  vial,  after  the  sixth, 
and  after  the  seventh.  The  student  of  sacred  num- 
bers may,  perhaps,  see  design  and  art  in  this  arrange- 
ment. There  is  certainly  a  method  in  the  plan  by 
which,  at  the  close  of  the  third  judgment,  we  are 
shown  the  effect  of  the  divine  action  upon  God's  peo- 
ple, at  the  close  of  the  sixth  plague  the  effect  upon 
the  still  unregenerate,  and  finally,  after  the  seventh, 
the  grand  cumulative  result  upon  the  entire  world. 

Is  it  not  what  we  should  expect,  that  the  ready  do- 
cility of  God's  people  would  learn  the  great  lesson 
before  half  of  the  series  had  been  completed  ?  "VVe 
are  not  surprised,  then,  after  the  description  of  the 
turning  of  the  rivers  and  fountains  into  blood,  to  hear 
the  angel  of  the  waters  say  :  "  Thou  art  righteous,  O 
Lord,  which  art,  and  wast,  and  shalt  be,  because  Thou 
hast  judged  thus.  For  they  have  shed  the  blood  of 
saints  and  prophets,  and  Thou  hast  given  them  blood 
to  drink  :  for  they  are  worthy."  The  sense  of  justice 
thus  expressed  is  heightened  by  comparing  that  justice, 
first,  with  the  rectitude  of  the  divine  nature,  and,  sec- 
ondly, with  the  atrocious  wickedness  of  the  ungodly. 
Then  a  voice  responds  out  of  the  altar,  "  Even  so,  Lord 
God  Almighty,  true  and  righteous  are  Thy  judgments." 


THE   SFA'EN    VIALS.  1(J9 

These  words  of  satisfaction  \ve  may  trace  to  those  souls 
under  the  altar  who,  in  the  account  of  the  fifth  seal 
(0  :  10),  were  crying  so  earnestly  for  vengeance  upon 
their  murderers.  We  may  take  both  of  these  utter- 
ances— that  of  the  angel  of  the  waters  and  the  response 
from  the  altar — as  the  expression  of  the  thorough  con- 
viction and  hearty  acknowledgment  of  the  Church 
of  the  latter  day  of  the  spotless  holiness  of  God.  and 
His  perfect  justice  in  dealing  .with  the  human  race. 
We  believe  in  both  these  facts,  but  we  have  not  had 
the  perfect  demonstration  of  them  which  the  future 
history  of  the  world  is  to  furnish  to  the  Church. 

On  the  other  hand,  how  much  a  matter  of  course  it 
i>  to  find  that,  even  after  the  sixth  plague,  the  unre- 
generate  portion  of  mankind  are  still  apparently  as  far 
from  learning  their  lesson  as  ever  !  We  are  reminded 
of  Pharaoh's  behavior,  and  how,  after  the  ninth  plague, 
lie  hardened  his  heart  in  utter  madness  of  obstinacy, 
and  forbade  Moses  to  see  his  face  again  on  penalty  of 
death.  So  it  always  is,  so  it  always  must  be,  with 
that  unteachable  perversity  of  spirit  which,  though 
ever  learning,  never  comes  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth.  Accordingly,  in  the  days  of  the  last  plagues, 
the  greatest  frenzy  of  opposition  which  the  world  has 
seen  is  represented  as  breaking  out  only  just  before 
that  final  stroke  by  which  the  Almighty  is  to  crush  all 
resistance. . 

This  last  and  greatest  effort  prior  to  the  millennium, 
to  prevent  the  setting  up  of  the  divine  kingdom  upon 
earth,  is  described  as  incited  by  three  frog-like,  unclean 
spirits,  issuing  from  the  mouths  of  the  dragon,  the 
beast,  and  the  falsd  prophet.  These  devilish  spirits, 


170  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

by  means  of  lying  miracles  wrought  in  the  presence  of 
the  kings  of  the  earth,  succeed  in  uniting  them  in  one 
tremendous  conspiracy,  and  gathering  them  in  multi- 
tudinous array  to  the  great  war  against  God  Almighty. 
So  gigantic  are  to  be  the  last  throes  of  error  in  its 
desperate  struggle  to  maintain  its  footing  upon  the 
earth.  The  Devil,  the  demagogue,  and  the  sophist 
will  keep  up  their  bad  arts  to  the  "  last  ditch"  of  their 
ability.  Lying,  and  misrepresentation,  and  calumny 
are  not  to  retire  from  the  field  until  forced  from  it. 
The  blessed  truth  of  God  will  win  its  final  triumph 
not  by  any  concession  or  favor  of  its  opposers,  but  by 
sheer  weight  of  metal  and  force  of  arm  to  annihilate 
resistance. 

And  thus  it  is  represented  as  taking  place  in  the 
last  act  of  the  drama.  When  the  seventh  vial  is 
poured  out  upon  the  air,  and  the  whole  spiritual  enve- 
lope of  the  world  bursts  into  explosion,  the  convulsions 
which  follow  are  so  universal  and  so  profound  as  to 
put  an  end  to  all  opposition.  Thus,  on  the  night  of 
the  destruction  of  the  first-born,  Egyptian  gainsaying 
ended  for  a  time  in  urgent  entreaties  that  the  Hebrews 
would  do  the  very  thing  which  they  had  long  been 
forbidden  to  do.  A  voice  is  heard,  like  that  which 
came  from  the  cross,  saying,  "  It  is  finished  !"  Fin- 
ished we  must  suppose  will  be  all  denial  of  Gospel 
truth,  all  resistance  to  Gospel  methods.  A  spiritual 
revolution,  the  greatest  that  has  ever  been  seen  upon 
earth,  will  then  take  place.  How  great  must  it  be  to 
be  pictured  by  a  world- wide  thunder-storm,  a  universal 
earthquake,  the  cleaving  of  the  great  city  of  the  earth — 
that  is,  the  combined  organization  and  civilization  of 


THE    SEVEN    VIALS.  171 

mankind — into  three  parts,  the  fall  of  all  the  cities,  as 
Jericho  fell  before  Joshua,  and  the  entire  transforma- 
tion of  the  earth's  surface,  so  that  every  island  fled 
away  and  every  mountain  disappeared  !  Add  to  this 
scene  the  awful  hail,  every  stone  of  the  weight  of  a 
talent  (about  fifty  pounds),  and  what  opposition  could 
any  longer  live  to  raise  its  hand  against  the  Almighty  ? 
The  meaning  of  the  prophecy  is  clear  and  hopeful  ;  it 
is  within  God's  power  to  put  an  end  to  all  resistance 
to  His  truth  and  His  cause,  and  end  it  He  surely  will. 
There  shall  come  a  time  when  the  Gospel  will  no 
longer  find  an  opposer  to  raise  a  doubt  of  its  truth,  or 
to  suggest  delay  in  accepting  its  invitations.  What  a 
thtfe  for  the  Church  that  will  be  !  Who  that  thinks 
of  it  can  fail  to  pray,"  Thy  kingdom  come"  ! 


XVI. 

THE    SCAELET   WOMAN. 

No  intelligent  Christian  can  read  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  chapters  of  the  Apocalypse  understand- 
ingly  without  having  his  heart  leap  within  him  at  the 
things  there  set  forth.  For  there  can  be  no  doubt, 
there  is  no  doubt,  in  the  minds  of  all  qualified  inter- 
preters, that  we  are  here  assured  of  the  downfall  of 
all  those  systems  of  counterfeit  Christianity  of  which 
Romanism  is  the  most  formidable  instance.  The  de- 
scription of  these  spurious  systems,  and  of  their  final 
and  awful  overthrow,  is  the  subject  of  these  two  chap- 
ters of  the  prophecy. 

But  what  prophecy  it  was,  arid  how  thoroughly  and 
joyously  we  may  recognize  it  as  such,  which,  centuries 
before  the  rise  of  the  Romish  apostasy,  and  eighteen 
hundred  years  before  some  of  the  events  which  are 
now  fulfilling  some  of  the  predictions,  so  distinctly  and 
graphically  portrayed  the  principal  features  of  the 
whole  miserable  history  !  We  can  well  believe  in  the 
final  catastrophe  so  emphatically  promised,  when  we 
perceive  that  the  prescience  which  assures  us  of  it  fore- 
saw so  much  else  which  is  already  a  matter  of  history, 
but  which  anything  less  than  omniscience  would  have 
been  equally  unable  to  discover. 

How  little  idea,  apart  from  a  divine  revelation,  a 
mere  mortal  like  John  could  have  had,  in  the  first  cen- 


THE    SCARLET   WO  MAX.  173 

tury  of  the  Christian  era,  that  the  most  formidable 
antagonist  which  the  religion  of  Christ  was  to  have 
would  be  a  pretender  to  be  that  very  religion  !  And 
if  conjecture  had  reached  even  so  far  as  to  forecast 
such  a  prodigy,  how  far  it  must  have  fallen  short  of 
any  detailed  description  of  the  exact  features  of  the 
prodigy,  and  of  its  special  fortunes  !  Yet  John  did, 
by  inspiration,  see  just  what  Roman  Catholicism  and 
its  kindred  errors  would  be,  what  would  be  the  main 
elements  of  their  impostures,  what  the  awful  extent 
of  the  evil  which  they  would  work,  and  also,  thank 
God  !  what  would  be  the  causes  of  their  downfall  and 
the  joy  over  their  destruction.  All  these  facts  are  set 
fofth  so  plainly  that  he  who  runs  may  read  them  and 
take  courage  that,  although  the  end  has  not  yet  come, 
it  is  sure  to  come  in  God's  appointed  time. 

Of  course  there  are  those  who  are  determined  not" 
to  see  what  is  here  revealed,  if  they  can  avoid  doing 
so.  There  are  two  classes  of  persons  who  are  not 
willing  to  read  these  chapters  with  their  eyes  open. 
Romanists  are  not  willing  to  see  in  this  harlot  their 
own  beloved  Church,  and  rationalists  are  not  willing 
to  find  so  remarkable  an  evidence  of  inspiration  as  such 
a  prophecy  must  be  admitted  to  furnish.  But  'the 
very  efforts  which  these  two  classes  have  made  to  avoid 
these  conclusions  only  serve  to  show,  to  unprejudiced 
minds,  that  the  prophecy  is  clear  and  beyond  reason- 
able cavil.  Both  Romanists  and  rationalists  admit 
that  the  subject  of  these  chapters  must  be  Rome. 
Rome  is  so  distinctly  pointed  out  as  to  give  no  chance 
for  doubt  that  it  is  intended.  The  admission  is  fatal 
to  these  objectors  ;  for  the  details  of  the  vision  can- 


174  THE    WOULD   LIGHTED. 

not  be  made  to  fit  anything  but  papal  Rome,  and  tlie 
endeavor  of  Bossuetto  make  them  fit  imperial 'Rome, 
or  that  of  Renan  to  make  the  story  of  Nero's  reputed 
survival  and  reappearance  explain  the  profound  ex- 
pression "  the  beast  that  was,  and  is  not,  and  shall 
come,"  are  both  so  puerile  as  to  show  that  only  one 
interpretation  is  possible. 

The  fact  that  the  information  contained  in  the  sev- 
enteenth chapter  is  derived  from  one  of  the  angels 
\vho  had  the  seven  vials,  or  bowls,  of  judgment,  shows 
that  this  is  a  special  episode  of  the  era  of  judgments, 
which  is  now,  on  account  of  its  great  importance,  more 
particularly  described.  How  important  it  is  !  Who 
can  fail  to  realize  the  tremendous  obstacle  to  the  world's 
enlightenment  which  the  Papacy  and  its  sister  delu- 
sions are  ?  Which  of  us  has  not  sometimes  staggered, 
like  Macaulay,  at  the  spectacle  of  its  imposing  power, 
and  trembled  lest  that  power  should  last  as  long  as  the 
world  stands  ?  If  we  do  not,  with  Macaulay,  think  it 
probable  that  Romanism  may  continue  in  perennial 
freshness  and  vigor  "  when  some  traveller  from  New 
Zealand  shall,  in  the  midst  of  a  vast  solitude,  take  his 
stand  on  a  broken  arch  of  London  Bridge  to  sketch 
the  ruins  of  St.  Paul's,"  it  is  because,  unlike  the 
English  historian,  we  believe  that  we  have  here  an  in- 
spired prediction  of  its  utter  disappearance  from  the 
world,  a  prediction  in  which  we  have  more  confidence 
than  in  the  conclusions  of  our  own  short-sighted  un- 
derstandings. 

The  Papacy  is  here  described  by  symbols  which 
show  her  to  be  the  most  formidable  adversary  which 
God's  truth  and  cause  could  possibly  have.  She  is 


THE    SCARLET    WOMAN.  175 

the  harlot,  false  to  God,  while  pretending  to  be  tnie 
and  faithful  to  Him  as  her  husband.  She  succeeds  in 
passing  herself  off  f  ortlie  true  Church,  while  the  Church 
itself  is  suffering  in  the  wilderness.  She  sits  upon  a 
scarlet-colored  beast  which  is  at  once  the  red-dragon, 
the  Devil,  and  the  wild  beast  of  worldly  empire.  All 
that  Satan  can  do  to  sustain  her,  and  all  that  the  un- 
scrupulous spirit  of  political  power  can  do,  will  be 
done.  Fraud  and  misrepresentation  she  carries  to  an 
extent  unknown  before,  for  whereas  the  wild  beast  of 
worldly  empire  had  names  of  blasphemy  only  upon 
his  heads,  this  vision  of  imposture  is  full  of  names  of 
blasphemy.  The  rich  dress  of  the'  harlot  and  the 
gulden  cup  in  her  hand  betoken  the  use  of  the  power 
of  money  to  an  almost  unlimited  extent.  The  result 
of  this  awful  combination  of  unholy  forces  is  repre- 
sented to  be  the  debauching  of  the  kings  of  the  earth, 
and  the  turning  mankind  at  large  into  a  mob  of  spirit- 
ual drunkards.  What  could  be  more  dreadful,,  as  a 
religious  state,  than  one  fit  to  be  represented  by  a  con- 
dition of  general  intoxication  ?  And  the  worst  thing 
about  drunkenness  is  its  tendency  to  perpetuate  itself, 
the  present  degradation  ensuring  its  own  continuance 
by  producing  an  insatiable  craving  for  its  cause. 

For  between  one  and  two  thousand  years  these  sad 
predictions  have  been  fulfilled  in  the  history  of  Ro- 
manism and  in  that  of  its  sister  harlot,  the  so-called 
Eastern  Church.  Through  this  protracted  period  the 
many  millions  of  devotees  of  these  false  systems  have 
been  deceived  into  believing  that  they  belonged  to  the 
only  true  Church,  and  were,  therefore,  sure  of  salva- 
^tion.  The  imposture  is  still  kept  up  with  such  success 


17G  THE   WORLD   LIGHTED. 

that  the  real  Church  and  the  actual  way  of  salvation 
are  discredited  by  hundreds  of  millions  of  people,  and 
it  seems  as  if  the  fraud  were  destined  to  be  perpetual. 
Although  the  real  character  of  the  scarlet  woman 
has  shown  itself  again  and  again,  although  she  has 
been  proved  a  liar  a  thousand  times,  and  her  savage 
thirst  for  the  blood  of  the  saints  has  opened  the  eyes 
of  a  great  many,  yet  nevertheless  she  keeps  up  her 
effrontery  from  century  to  century,  and  finds  "  peo- 
ples, and  multitudes,  and  nations,  and  tongues"  to  be- 
lieve in  her. 

It  was  most  natural  that  the  apostle  "  wondered 
with  a  great  wonder"  as  lie  contemplated  this  prodig- 
ious phenomenon.  Jt  is  not  strange  that  the  ignorant 
masses  of  the  adherents  of  these  gigantic  frauds  are 
beguiled  and  bewitched  by  the  vast  display  of  author- 
ity and  glory  which  these  false  churches  are  able  to 
make.  That  the  cunning  of  man,  even  when  assisted 
by  the  guile  of  the  serpent,  should  be  able  to  achieve 
such  marvels  as  to  pass  off  the  false  church  for  the 
true,  and  Antichrist  for  Christ  ;  that  priestcraft  should 
reach  the  height  of  vaulting  to  the  seat  of  empire,  and 
of  putting  a  hierarchy  of  its  own  creation,  which,  at 
the  time  of  the  prophecy,  was  not  yet  born,  upon  the 
throne  of  the  world,  so  that  it  should  become  the  eighth 
head  of  the  great  political  monster  under  whose  feet 
mankind  had  so  long  groaned  ;  that  a  selfish  earthly 
dynasty,  seeking  chiefly  its  own  power  and  glory  at 
the  expense  of  others,  should  be  shrewd  and  subtle 
enough  to  bend  to  its  own  purposes  the  ten  other 
kings  as  selfish  as  itself,  so  that  for  ages  they  should 
give  their  power  and  authority  to  the  beaet — all  this 


THE   SCARLET    WOMAN.  177 

is  matter  of  marvel  so  great  as  to  surpass  all  other 
similar  occasions  of  wonder  that  the  world  has  seen. 
In  the  success  and  perpetuity  of  the  Roman  apostasy 
the  author  of  evil  has  achieved  his  masterpiece. 

We  are  not,  however,  to  think  that  this  masterpiece 
of  iniquity  is  forever  to  flaunt  its  blasphemous  pre- 
tensions in  the  faces  of  an  outraged  Church  and  an  in- 
dignant Heaven.  It  is  all  the  more  surely  doomed 
that  its  exceptional  enormity  challenges  God  and  all 
good  beings  to  seek  its  destruction.  Singled  out,  as 
it  is,  on  account  of  its  large  share  in  the  ruin  of  man- 
kind, for  express  mention  arid  description  in  the 
Apocalypse,  it  is  its  awful  part  in  the  era  of  judgments 
fft*whieh  chiefly  it  has  a  place  there.  The  history 
of  its  perverse  career,  though  so  protracted,  is  given 
most  briefly,  but  the  account  of  its  fall  is  given  ex- 
tensively and  dramatically.  After  all,  it  is  the  over- 
throw of  this  gigantic  evil,  and  not  its  long-continued 
existence,  of  which  the  Book  of  Revelation  takes  most 
solemn  heed. 

The  first  warning  of  this  overthrow  is  in  the  state- 
ment that  this  nondescript  monster,  which  is  some-- 
times  the  woman,  sometimes  the  beast,  and  sometimes 
the  great  city  seated  upon  its  seven  hills  and  reigning 
over  the  kings  of  the  earth,  makes  war,  through  these 
kings,  against  the  Lamb.  The  Lamb  of  the  Apocalypse 
is  the  very  One  whose  task  it  is  to  unseal  the  great 
book  of  the  divine  knowledge,  so  that  human  igno- 
rance shall  be  enlightened.  The  Romish  Church  has 
set  itself  with  all  the  force  oi  its  authority  and  all  the 
power  of  its  worldly  alliances  to  resist  that  unsealing. 
Which  is  to  prevail  ?  "  The  Lamb  shall  overcome 


178  THE   WORLD   LIGHTED. 

them,  for  lie  is  Lord  of  lorcfo  and  King  of  kings." 
The  Pope  is  only  the  ruler  of  the  kings  of  the  earth,  but 
Christ  is  the  Lord  of  the  kings  of  the  universe.  What 
abundant  resources  lie  lias  at  His  disposal  to  give  Him 
the  victory  in  this  battle  of  the  light  with  the  dark- 
ness every  morning  proclaims.  There  is  the  same 
superabundant  degree  of  truth  to  be  kept  out  of  human 
minds  in  order  to  preserve  the  darkness  of  paganism 
and  of  popery,  that  there  is  of  light  to  be  kept  out  of 
the  world  to  preserve  the  darkness  of  the  night. 

"  They  also  shall  overcome  that  are  with  Him, 
called,  arid  chosen,  and  faithful."  They  must  over- 
come by  the  very  fact  that  they  are  with  Him.  His 
victory  is  their  victory.  The  cause  for  which  they 
are  ready  to  die,  until  the  apostate  church  is  "  drunk 
with  the  blood  of  the  saints,  and  with  the  blood  of  the 
martyrs  of  Jesus,"  is,  of  necessity,  the  winning  cause. 
The  testimony  which  they  bear  who"  are  "  called,  and 
chosen,  and  faithful,"  both  by  their  lives  and  by 
their  lips,  is  testimony  which  must  eventually  convince 
every  gainsayer  that  the  scarlet  woman  is  anything  but 
the  bride  of  Christ. 

Then  there  is  an  element  of  natural,  reactionary 
retribution,  which  has  a  part  in  the  judgment  of  that 
brazen  harlot,  the  church  which  aims  at  temporal  do- 
minion through  alliances  with  the  civil  power.  Earthly 
princes  are  like  dogs  fighting  for  the  same  bone,  and 
any  ecclesiasticism  which  succeeds  in  using  the  civil 
power  for  political  ends  is  sure  to  suffer,  sooner  or 
later,  from  the  jealousy  and  hatred  of  that  same 
power.  All  State  churches  have  their  sore  troubles 
from  this  cause,  and  the  Romish  Church,  because  it  is 


THE    SCARLET    WOMAN.  179 

the  most  flagrant  example  of  this  abuse,  is  destined  to 
suffer  most  severely  its  natural  consequences.  The 
"  ten  kings"  who  before  gave  their  "  power  and  au- 
thority unto  the  beast"  are  afterward  seen  hating  the 
harlot,  and  making  her  desolate,  and  naked,  and  eat- 
ing her  flesh,  and  burning  her  utterly  with  fire.  The 
beast  itself,  on  which  she  once  rode,  turns  against  her, 
and  heads  the  confederacy  of  the  hostile  kings.  This 
is  a  natural  consequence  of  the  lust  for  power  which 
all  worldly  empires  share  with  the  Church  of  Rome. 
They  succumbed  to  her  as  long  as  she  could  frighten 
them  into  submission  through  their  superstitious  ter- 
rors, or  play  them  one  against  another  by  her  superior 
craft.  But  with  the  dawn  of  popular  knowledge  her 
opportunity  passed,  and  already,  among  her  former 
royal  serfs,  there  is  none  so  poor  as  to  do  her  rever- 
ence. They  have  done  much  to  make  her  uncomfort- 
able, they  have  taken  from  her  every  vestige  of  tem- 
poral power.  The  "  prisoner  of  the  Vatican"  is  hav- 
ing a  sorry  time  of  it  in  keeping  up  a  poor  show  of 
temporal  sovereignty.  It  certainly  looks  far  from  im- 
probable that  the  political  changes  of  Europe  may  yet 
work  as  utter  a  wreck  of  the  Papacy  as  is  pictured  in 
this  prophecy. 


XVII. 

THE    FALL    OF    BABYLON. 

THE  downfall  of  the  apostate  church  is  portrayed 
in  the  eighteenth  chapter.  For  the  purpose  of  such 
a  portrayal  the  figure  of  a  woman  is  exchanged  for 
that  of  a  great  city,  because  thus  the  disaster  could  be 
made  so  much  more  dramatic.  Inspiration  seems  to 
have  wished  to  enlarge  upon  this  downfall,  to  paint  it 
in  such  dark  colors  as  to  cause  the  readers  of  the 
prophecy  to  feel  how  great  an  event  thi-i  is  to  God  as 
well  as  to  us.  The  overthrow  of  Rome  and  of  its 
kindred  systems  will  mark  one  of  the  grandest  eras  in 
human  history. 

We  are  not  left  to  think  that  for  so  great  a  service 
to  God  and  man  we  are  to  be  indebted  chiefly  to  the 
selfish  and  beastly  spirit  of  worldly  empire.  That 
will  have  its  part  to  do,  as  set  forth  in  the  seventeenth 
chapter,  but  it  will  be  a  very  subordinate  part.  Rome 
will  fall,  not  so  much  because  its  worldly  possessions 
excite  the  envy  of  covetous  spirits  like  its  own,  as 
because  the  world  will  become  too  bright  a  place  for 
such  a  creature  of  darkness  longer  to  lurk  in. 

For  again,  at  the  outset  of  this  dramatic  description 
of  the  fall  of  mystic  Babylon,  as  so  often  before  in 
the  Revelation,  we  meet  the  now  familiar  symbol  of 
human  enlightenment.  Not  in  the  elaborate  descrip- 
tions of  earlier  chapters,  for  that  is  unnecessary,  but 


THE    FALL    OF    BABYLON.  181 

sufficiently  indicated  to  remind  us  that  here  as  else- 
where the  hook  is  the  account  of  the  manner  in  which 
the  truth  of  heaven  is  to  displace  the  error  of  earth. 
In  this  simple  manner  is  to  be  explained  the  meaning 
of  the  appearance  of  an  "angel  coming  down  out  of 
heaven  with  great  authority,"  with  whose  glory  "  the 
earth  was  lightened." 

Recall  the  statement  that  the  victory  of  the  Lamb 
is  to  be  that  of  those  who  are  "  with  Him,  who  are 
called,  and  chosen,  and  faithful."  Remember  that 
Jesus  ere  He  ascended  spoke  of  the  authority  that  had 
been  given  Him  in  heaven  and  upon  earth,  and  bade 
His  disciples  go  upon  their  mission,  counting  upon 
Jitm  to  be  with  them  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the 
world.  What  is  this  accession  of  authority,  then, 
which  comes  to  earth  with  the  angel,  but  the  authority 
of  Jesus  exercised  by  His  true  people  in  increased 
measure  ?  It  is  the  authority  of  goodness,  of  right- 
eousness, and  of  truth  over  an  ever-augmenting  popu- 
lation. It  is  "  the  kingdom,  and  dominion,  and  the 
greatness  of  the  kingdom  under  the  whole  heaven," 
which  Daniel  foretold  should  be  "given  to  the  people 
of  the  saints  of  the  Most  High."  The  right  side  in 
this  great  world  battle  is  here  seen  obtaining  a  de- 
cidedly predominant  influence  over  men.  As  they 
learn  to  defer  to  the  true  Church,  the  false  church 
will  lose  its  power.  As  the  authority  of  Jesus  in- 
creases over  mankind,  the  dominion  of  the  spiritual 
despotisms  will  diminish.  This  angel  was  so  splendid 
that  "  the  earth  was  lightened  with  his  glory."  Let 
the  imagination  see  something  far  beyond  a  temporary 
illumination,  like  that  which  lit  up  the  fields  of  Beth- 


182  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

lehem  and  touched  every  object  within  the  horizon 
with  a  brief  brilliancy.  The  fact  intended  is  un- 
speakably greater  than  such  a  conception.  It  is  the 
fact  of  the  prevalence  of  such  intelligence  in  the  world, 
such  knowledge  of  the  ways  of  God  and  of  the  truths 
of  the  Bible,  such  power  to  discriminate  between  the 
true  Church  of  Christ  and  any  possible  counterfeits, 
that  no  place  is  left  anywhere  for  popery  to  live,  and 
it  can  have  Ho  choice  but  to  die. 

Such  a  thought  about  earth  is  almost  enough  to  take 
one's  breath  away.  But  is  it  any  more  than  is  implied 
by  the  angel  when  he  cries,  "  Fallen,  fallen  is  Baby- 
lon the  great""  f  Babylon  will  never  fall,  I  am  sure, 
until  all  the  supports  on  which  it  rests  are  removed. 
As  long  as  there  are  foolish,  ignorant,  superstitious 
people  in  the  world,  so  long  popery  and  its  fellow- 
impostures  will  take  advantage  of  those  people  and 
maintain  their  existence.  They  can  be  destroyed  only 
by  removing  the  very  ground  from  beneath  their  feet 
and  the  very  breath  from  their  nostrils.  This  can  be 
done  only  by  increasing  the  general  enlightenment  to 
such  a  degree  that  the  weaknesses,  and  mistakes,  and 
vices  on  which  Rome  lives  shall  disappear  from  the 
earth.  Let  men  everywhere  learn  the  facts  of  his- 
tory, the  facts  of  the  Bible,  and  the  facts  of  human 
nature,  and  great  Babylon  must  then  have  its  fall. 

The  first  step  toward  the  emancipation  of  the  race 
from  the  thraldom  of  great  spiritual  despotisms  is  the 
discovery  of  their  inherent  vileness.  When  Tetzel 
came  peddling  indulgences  through  Germany,  and 
when  Luther  went  to-  Rome  and  found  that  the  very 
priests  who  transubstantiated  the  wafers  into  God 


THE    PALL   OF    BABYLON.  183 

were  infidels  who  secretly  ridiculed  the  whole  per- 
formance, it  became  hard  to  remain  a  Romanist.  We 
are  to  anticipate  like  discoveries  everywhere,  and  the 
fair  mask  to  be  so  completely  torn  from  the  face  of 
the  papacy  that  its  ugliness  will  be  universally  seen. 
It  will  be  as  if  a  glorious  angel  had  proclaimed  in 
every  human  ear  that  Babylon  the  great  "  is  a  habita- 
tion of  demons,  and  a  hold  of  every  unclean  spirit, 
and  a  hold  of  every  unclean  and  hateful  'bird"  The 
Protestant  Church  has  long  been  saying  that,  but 
Catholics  would  not  believe  it.  The  time  will  come 
when  they  will  have  to  believe  it,  because  the  expos- 
ure of  papal  iniquity  will  be  so  complete.  Popish 
ijjftuerice  will-  not  always  be  able  to  falsify  history  or 
to  keep  the  true  record  of  the  apostate  church  out  of 
the  common  schools  and  from  the  knowledge  of  the 
people.  It  will  finally  be  known  how  the  kings  of 
the  earth  have  committed  fornication  with  this  spirit- 
ual harlot,  and  what  they  have  had  to  suffer  in  conse- 
quence. It  will  be  seen  how  poor  old  Spain  and 
every  other  Catholic  country  has  gone  down  under 
the  incubus  of  its  idolatrous  faith,  and  how  every 
Protestant  country  has  risen  by  the  inspiration  of  its 
purer  faith.  It  will  be 'seen  how  the  masses  of  the 
people,  wherever  Romanism  has  prevailed,  have  grov- 
elled in  a  degradation  like  that  of  sots  under  the 
power  of  inebriation.  It  will  be  known  how  large  a 
part  of  her  support  Rome  derives  from  the  panders 
to  her  illicit  pleasures  and  from  the  favorites  with 
whom  she  shares  the  spoils  which  have  been  plucked 
from  the  unhappy  victims  Of  her  power.  When  these 
things  are  laid  bare  and  spread  out  before  the  world 


THE   WOULD    LIGHTED. 


in  all  their  revolting  deformity,  popery  must  go  the 
•way  of  all  criminals  —  into  disgrace  and  punishment. 

Then  will  be  heard  another  voice  from  heaven, 
saying,  "  Come  forth,  My  people,  out  of  her,  that  ye 
have  no  fellowship  with  her  sins,  and  that  ye  receive 
not  of  her  plagues.  For  her  sins  have  reached  even 
unto  heaven,  and  God  hath  remembered  her  iniquities." 
Interpreters  who  take  the  symbolism  of  this  chapter 
literally,  or  semi-literally,  are  perplexed  to  tell  whose 
this  other  voice  is,  whether  God's  or  another  angel's. 
But  if  we  take  these  heavenly  occurrences  for  what  is 
to  transpire  upon  earth,  there  is  instant  suggestion 
how  this  voice  speaks.  It  is  the  response  arising 
within  the  apostate  church  itself  upon  hearing  and 
understanding  the  facts  uttered  by  the  angel  of  expo- 
sure —  that  is,  as  the  testimony  of  God's  people  be- 
comes strong  and  convincing  regarding  the  hideous 
character  of  the  false  church,  there  will  arise  a  cry 
within  the  communion  of  that  church  for  separation 
from  her.  It  is  conceivable  that  real  piety  may  re- 
main in  the  midst  of  spurious  religious  bodies  as  long 
as  their  real  character  continues  concealed  in  the  least 
degree.  But  when  their  hypocrisy  is  unmasked,  it  is 
as  impossible  for  true  Christians  to  abide  with  them 
as  it  would  be  for  lambs  to  rest  in  the  embrace  of 
wolves.  Sooner  or  later  all  that  is  good  will  have  left 
these  synagogues  of  Satan,  and  nothing  will  remain 
that  is  not  entirely  Satanic. 

It  may  well  be  imagined  that  the  loudest  and  se- 
verest denunciations  will  be  heard  from  these  who  are 
the  latest  outcomers  from  the  apostasies.  The  horror 
of  having  continued  in  such  bad  company  so  long,  and 


THE    FALL   OF    BABYLON.  185 

of  having  been  so  shockingly  ensnared  and  beguiled, 
will  cause  the  sharpest  indignation.  These  last  sepa- 
ratists will  be  the  most  familiar  with  the  atrocities 
which  they  denounce,  and  most  thoroughly  aware  of 
all  their  damnable  ill-desert.  Accordingly  it  is  from 
these  that  the  cry  is  represented  as  going  up  to  Glod 
for  His  heavy  vengeance  upon  the  harlot  city.  "  Ren- 
der unto  her  even  as  she  rendered,  and  double  unto 
her  the  double  according  to  her  works  :  in  the  cup  that 
she  mingled,  mingle  unto  her  double."  These  recu- 
sants who,  perhaps,  have  been  suffered  to  remain  in 
the  communion  of  devils  for  this  very  purpose,  are 
represented  as  bearing  witness  against  it  regarding  its 
sejf -glorification,  and  wantonness,  and  confidence  of 
unlimited  indulgence.  And  it  is  these  who  are  to  see 
with  clearest  vision  the  utter  ruin  with  which  the  just 
judgment  of  God  will  overtake  this  greatest  enemy  of 
righteousness  on  earth. 

But  others  still  are  to  see  it.  Not  only  the  last 
generation  of  Puritans  and  Protestants  who  go  forth 
from  the  apostate  church,  but  those  whose  spiritual 
sight  is  far  less  keen.  Even  the  u  kings  of  the  earth, 
who  committed  fornication  and  lived  wantonly  with 
her,"  and  are  therefore  no  better  than  herself,  are 
yet  to  be  fully  able  to  see  the  judgment  upon  her,  and 
to  fear  lest  they  themselves  may  be  involved  in  it. 
Moreover,  the  "  merchants  of  the  earth,"  that  class  of 
men  who  worship  money  and  are  eager  for  any  traffic, 
even  in  the  "souls  of  men,"  if  they  can  but  see  a 
chance  for  gain,  even  these  are  shown  as  being  fully 
aware  of  and  lamenting  over  the  catastrophe  of  the 
great,  vile  city.  And  finally,  the  "  shipmasters"  and 


18G  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

"  mariners,"  men  whose . calling  is  supposed  to  make 
them  rather  more  ignorant  and  unscrupulous  than  any 
other  class,  are  pictured  as  standing  "afar  off,"  and 
bewailing  the  smoke  of  the  burning  metropolis.  This 
vivid  picture  of  a  great  city  in  conflagration,  beheld 
by  horrified  spectators  of  these  various  kinds,  seems 
intended  to  assure  us  that  the  final  downfall  of  great 
hypocrisies  will  be  understood  by  all  mankind.  The 
light  will  have  become  so  general  and  so  bright  that, 
at  that  time,  nobody  will  be  so  ignorant  and  foolish 
as  great  numbers  are  now.  Even  into  the  marts  of 
trade,  even  into  the  cabinets  of  civil  rulers,  the  great 
truths  of  religion,  the  great  principles  of  righteous- 
ness will  have  penetrated,  so  that  even  the  most  nn- 
godly  will  fear  to  deceive  and  take  advantage,  as 
Romanism  has  done,  lest  they,  too,  should  partake  of 
her  Heaven-sent  judgments. 

When  that  day  has  arrived,  what  a  change  will  have 
come  over  all  the  relations  of  human  intercourse  ! 
Christianity  has  no  harder  task  before  her  than  to  re- 
form politics  and  commerce.  In  both  the  spirit  of  an 
almost  unbridled  license  reigns,  and  all  means  are  un- 
hesitatingly used  which  promise  a  wicked  success. 
But  in  the  day  that  the  world  becomes  too  intelligent 
and  too  clean  for  tlie  pope  and  his  cardinals  to  dwell 
in  it,  the  politician  and  the  merchant  will  have  to 
mend  their  ways.  The  tricks  of  trade  and  the  wiles 
of  diplomacy  will  have  to  be  abandoned.  Selfishness 
may  yet  survive,  but  it  will  have  to  be  decent  and 
respectable.  This  will  be  a  vastly  better  world. 

The  best  of  all  will  be  that  the  ogres,  once  banished, 
are  never  to  come  back  again.  The  last  act  in  this 


THE   FALL   OF   BABYLON.  187 

drama  is  most  assuring.  A  strong  angel  takes  up  a 
great  stone  like  a  mill-stone  (tit  emblem  of  the  nature 
of  superstition)  and  casts  it  into  the  sea,  saying, 
"Thus  .  .  .  Babylon  .  .  .  shall  be  found 
no  more  at  all."  The  disappearance  of  the  stone 
illustrates  the  disappearance  of  popery  from  the  world. 
It  was  here — it  is  gone — it  will  never  be  seen  again. 
Oh,  blessed  time,  when  men  shall  tell  their  children  of 
mighty  systems  of  priestcraft  which  once  numbered 
their  victims  by  hundreds  of  millions,  and  the  chil- 
dren shall  find  it  hard  to  believe  the  strange  story, 
because  nothing  is  anywhere  to  be  found  upon  the 
earth  to  make  it  seem  possible  !  How  near  that  age 
wilJHbe  to  what  we  are  accustomed  to  think  of  as  the 
millennium  ! 


XVIII. 

THE    PREMILLENNIAL    AGE. 

WE  have  not  yet  quite  reached  the  golden  age  of 
the  Church,  but  the  prophecy  is  rapidly  hastening 
toward  it.  The  good  already  described  as  secured  is 
so  great  as  to  seem  little  short  of  millennial  glory. 
However,  a  few  steps  yet  remain  to  be  taken  before 
we  shall  be  face  to  face  with  that  glory.  But  each 
one  of  these  steps  is  itself  so  delightful  that  they  seem 
like  the  latter  part  of  "  the  path  of  the  just"  where 
it  becomes  "  the  perfect  day." 

The  first  thing  in  the  nineteenth  chapter  is  just 
what  we  might  anticipate.  When  priestcraft  shall 
disappear  forever  from  the  earth,  sinking  like  a  mill- 
stone into  the  depths  of  the  sea,  will  there  not  be  a 
great  celebration  ?  We  can  almost  hear  the  shouts  of 
that  celebration  as  they  reverberate  from  heaven  to 
earth,  and  through  creation's  utmost  bounds.  Wher- 
ever Jesus  is  known  and  honored,  and  wherever 
tidings  of  earthly  occurrences  extend,  there  will  there 
be  rejoicing  when  it  is  known  that  the  dark  system  of 
imposture  which  so  long  wore  the  livery  of  heaven 
in  the  service  of  Satan  has  ceased  to  be  possible  upon 
this  planet.  Priestcraft  will  last  too  long  ever  to  be 
forgotten  by  mankind  ;  its  extent  will  be  too  great 
and  its  mischief  too  vast  to  permit  it  ever  to  pass  from 


THE    PREMILLENNIAL   AGE.  189 

human  memory,  so  that  its  "  smoke  will  go  up  for- 
ever and  ever"  as  a  hideous  recollection. 

All  the  more  jubilant  and  prolonged  will  be  the 
celebration  of  the  fall  of  this  mighty  Babylon  that  its 
career  was  so  protracted.  The  description  represents 
"  a  great  multitude  in  heaven"  crying  "  Hallelujah  !" 
And  a  second  time  they  say  "Hallelujah!"  The 
"  four-and-twenty  elders"  who  represent  the  Church 
of  all  ages,  and  the  "  four  living  creatures"  in  whom 
is  personified  universal  intelligence,  "  fall  down  and 
worship  God"  and  cry  "  Hallelujah  !"  A  voice 
comes  from  the  throne  saying,  "  Give  praise  to  our 
Go.4  !"  And  finally  "  a  voice  of  a  great  multitude, 
and  as  the  voice  of  many  waters,  and  as  the  voice  of 
mighty  thunders,"  is  heard  saying  "  Hallelujah  !  for 
the  Lord  our  God,  the  Almighty,  reigneth." 

What  less  can  be  meant  by  all  this  than  a  general 
recognition  by  all  mankind  of  the  hand  of  God  in  the 
overthrow  of  all  systems  of  priestcraft,  and  a  general 
rejoicing  at  it  ?  We  are  to  understand  that  popery 
and  kindred  impostures  come  to  an  end  by  the  univer- 
sal desire  of  mankind  and  to  the  general  satisfaction  ; 
and  that  it  is  to  take  place  upon  high  moral  and  re- 
ligious grounds — grounds  which  men  generally  will 
have  sufficient  moral  and  religious  education  to  per- 
ceive. 

It  has  been  thought  that  the  use  here,  for  the  first 
and  only  time  in  the  New  Testament,  of  the  Hebrew 
term  "  Hallelujah"  is  a  hint  that  at  this  point  the 
conversion  of  the  Jews  will  take  place.  It  is  a  sugges- 
tion which  seems  highly  probttble.  Otherwise  we 
have  no  hint  in  this  book  of  that  event  from  which, 


190  THE    WORLD   LIGHTED. 

in  the  eleventh  of  Romans,  Paul  expected  so  much. 
"  What  shall  the  receiving  of  tjiem  l>e,"  he  asks, 
"but  life  from  the  dead?"  Was  not  his  prophetic 
eye  upon  the  same  millennial  fact  which,  in  the  next 
chapter  of  the  Apocalypse,  is  termed  "  the  first  resur- 
rection" ?  It  is  most  probable.  We  ought  to  be 
looking  in  our  prophetic  history  for  the  conversion  of 
the  Jews  somewhere  here.  And  is  it  not  extremely 
likely  that  the  light  which  proves  too  bright  for  Ro- 
manism will  be  too  bright  for  Judaism  also  ?  How 
can  Jewish  Rabbis  continue  to  terrorize  their  adhe- 
rents in  a  world  where  Romish  priests  have  lost  their 
power?  Indeed,  Judaism  is,  and  always  has  been, 
one  of  the  worst  forms  of  priestcraft,  and  when  one 
form  goes  all  must  go,  and  for  the  same  reason.  We 
may  well  suppose  that,  among  the  liberated  millions 
who  rejoice  over  the  downfall  of  these  old  world 
tyrannies,  it  will  be  the  Jews  who  will  rejoice  most 
loudly.  It  may  well  be  that  the  Hebrew  Hallelujah 
will  rise  highest  among  all  the  notes  of  praise,  because, 
of  all  the  victims  of  spiritual  despotisms,  it  is  the  Jews 
whose  curse  has  been  most  awful.  Was  it  not  the 
malignity  of  Jewish  priestcraft  which  murdered  the 
Lord  and  brought  His  blood  upon  that  race  for  many 
generations  ? 

There  must  be  at  this  same  time  not  only  the  con- 
version of  the  Jews,  -but  a  general  revival  of  religion. 
What  can  prevent  it  ?  With  those  great  hindrances 
out  of  the  way  whose  destruction  has  been  already 
described,  how  great  the  power  of  the  preached  gospel 
must  become  !  And  now  another  great  and  wonder- 
ful help  to  its  influence  is  brought  to  view  under  the 


THE    PllEMILLENNIAL   AGE.  191 

figure  of  the  marriage  of  the  Latiib  to  tlio  bride,  the 
Church.  The  same  multitudinous  voice  which  thun- 
dered Hallelujah  is  heard  saying  that  "  the  marriage 
of  the  Lamb  is  come,  and  Ills  icife  hath  made  herself 
ready.' '  The  narrative  continues,  "  And  it  was  given 
unto  her  that  she  should  array  herself  in  fine  linen, 
bright  and  pure  ;  for  .the  line  linen  is  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  saints." 

Others  may  think  that,  they  have  here  a  warrant 
for  expecting  the  personal  advent  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
at  this  epoch.  Such  is  not  my  opinion.  I  think  that 
if  that  were  meant,  more  emphasis  would  be  put  upon 
the  personal  appearance  of  the  Bridegroom.  As  it  is 
th«Temphasis  is"  upon  the  bride,  and  her  fitness  for  the 
long-delayed  nuptials.  In  the  line  of  the  view  which 
we  have  been  taking  this  description  brings  before  us 
the  greatly  increased  honor  and  confidence  which  the 
Church  is  to  receive  in  the  age  which  we  are  consider- 
ing. When  the  false  church  goes  down,  the  true 
Church  must  go  up.  When  her  rivals  in  Imman  re- 
gard are  discredited,  the  real  bride  of  Christ  will  be 
admired  as  she  deserves  to  be.  The  Church  will  de- 
serve admiration  at  this  period  because  of  its  right- 
eousness ;  it  will  be  clothed,  like  a  bride,  in  spotless 
white.  When  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  is  sustained 
by  such  a  church,  what  conquests  it  will  win  !  Not 
only  in  heaven,  but  upon  earth  it  will  be  said, 
"Blessed  are  they  who  are  bidden  to  the  marriage 
supper  of  the  Lamb  !"  All  over  the  world  the  gospel 
invitation  will  be  joyfully  accepted,  and  the  wedding 
will  be  furnished  with  guests.  It  will  be  the  greatest 
revival  ever  known. 


192  THE   WORLD    LIGHTED. 

It  is  not  strange  that  at  this  point  John  was  so 
moved  by  what  had  been  shown  him  that  he  fell  at 
the  feet  of  the  angel  through  whom  the  communica- 
tion had  come  to  worship  him.  If  we  realize  with 
any  vividness  the  picture  of  that  glad  time,  we  too 
shall  feel  like  worship.  The  angel  restrained  the 
apostle  with  the  assurance  that  he  was  no  better  than 
any  other  angel,  or  indeed  any  other  servant  of  God, 
though  it  was  his  happy  lot  to  bring  so  glorious  a 
message.  The  incident  may  stand  for  the  heightened 
spirit  of  wrorship  which  shall  pervade  the  Church  in 
the  premillennial  age. 

What  next  ?  Is  this  state  of  things,  which  the  mar- 
riage supper  of  the  Lamb  represents,  to  go  on  without 
interruption  or  opposition  ?  Is  the  history  of  the 
Church  now  to  be  only  one  continued  and  everywhere 
spreading  revival  of  religion  ?  Or  shall  we  look  for 
reaction,  reverses,  and  some  great  combination  against 
the  truth  and  against  the  Church  ? 

Remember  that,  although  we  have  seen  the  down- 
fall of  the  apostate  church,  some  other  notable  figures 
of  this  prophecy  remain  yet  upon  the  stage  of  action. 
There  are  yet  the  wild  beast  of  worldly  power  and  the 
false  prophet  of  deceit,  who  inherits  the  wily  spirit  of 
the  lamb-dragon  of  ecclesiasticism  ;  above  all,  there 
is  Satan,  the  red  dragon  and  master-spirit  of  evil ;  and 
all  these  have  the  same  capacity  for  opposition  that 
they  ever  had,  all  the  more  embittered  because  of  the 
great  progress  and  power  cf  true  religion.  It  is  in  the 
very  nature  of  things,  then,  that  there  should  be  one 
more  great  spiritual  war  upon  the  earth  before  it  can 
have  its  millennium. 


THE    PUEMILLENNIAL   AGE.  193 

This  war  succeeds  the  marriage  supper.  There  was 
never  a  revival,  I  suppose,  that  did  not  stir  up  enmity 
among  the  ungodly.  So  it  will  be  in  the  last  days, 
and  on  a  vast  scale.  The  powers  of  darkness  will  not 
see  their  empire  slipping  from  them  without  a  desper- 
ate effort  to  recover  it.  It  will  be  a  great  struggle, 
ending  with  a  complete  and  tremendous  discomfiture. 

It  is  to  be  supposed  that,  even  with  the  largely 
diffused  knowledge,  both  secular  and  religious,  which 
must  by  this  time  everywhere  prevail,  and  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  priestcraft  has  disappeared  and 
that  the  Church  enjoys  an  unrivalled  pre-eminence, 
there  will  yet  be  many  unregenerate  persons  in  the 
wftrld  whose  carnal  minds  will  be  hostile  to  God.  It 
is  among  these,  through  all  social  grades,  from  bot- 
tom to  top,  that  Satan  and  his  emissaries  will  work 
their  plot  and  organize  their  confederacy.  Whatever 
doubt  can  be  raised  in  an  unbelieving  mind,  whatever 
dislike  can  be  fostered  in  a  corrupt  heart,  whatever 
tools  can  be  found  in  selfish,  proud,  or  malignant 
natures — these  elements  of  discord  and  opposition  to 
God  Satan  will  strive  to  turn  to  account  as  long  as 
the  world  is  not  entirely  sanctified,  and  he  is  free  to 
scheme  and  act. 

The  result  of  such  a  conflict  in  the  age  just  before 
the  millennial  is  easily  predicted.  All  the  victories 
of  the  Church  in  less  enlightened  ages  forecast  its 
overwhelming  success  in  this  last  struggle.  How  can 
it  fail  ?  Its  forces  are  pictured  in  tire  passage  before 
us  as  a  magnificent  heavenly  army  all  upon  white 
horses,  and  led  by  the  great  Captain  of  salvation  Him- 
self. The  largest  part  of  the  description  is  that  of  the 


194  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

Leader.  Of  the  led  we  are  told  only  that  they  are 
clothed  in  fine  linen,  white  and  pure.  But  of  the 
Leader  the  portrait  is  given  in  many  striking  details. 
His  names,  His  armor,  His  diadems,  His  clothing  are 
all  described  minutely.  The  result  is  to  make  us  feel 
how  splendidly  equipped  the  Church  of  the  latter  day 
will  be  for  its  last  great  campaign.  It  will  be  strong 
in  its  own  purity,  strong  in  the  authority  of  the  Word 
of  God  in  an  age  sufficiently  intelligent  to  appreciate 
the  claims  and  the  evidences  of  Inspiration,  strongest 
of  all  in  its  manifest  favor  with  Him  who  is  King  of 
kings  and  Lord  of  lords,  and  in  the  enlarged  knowl- 
edge of  Him  for  which  the  premillennial  age  will  be 
distinguished. 

This  I  take  to  be  the  significance  of  that  splendid 
figure,  the  rider  upon  a  white  horse,  who  heads  the 
grand  army  of  Christianity  for  its  great  war  with  the 
forces  of  evil.  Few,  if  any,  would  venture  to  say 
that  this  means  the  personal  advent  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 
If  not  that,  it  must  mean  a  vastly  heightened  knowl- 
edge of  His  person  and  character,  which  is  equivalent 
for  the  practical  purpose  in  view  to  such  an  advent. 
Is  not  such  a  knowledge  precisely  what  we  may  antici- 
pate as  existing  in  the  premillennial  age  ?  The  prog- 
ress of  the  world's  improvement  already  described 
could  never  have  gone  so  far  without  such  a  knowl- 
edge, and  each  step  of  that  progress  must  add  to  the 
world's  acquaintance  with  the  Lord.  At  the  point 
which  we  have  now  reached  the  information  prevail- 
ing everywhere  regarding  King  Jesus  must  be  con- 
sidered the  most  important  and  most  hopeful  fact  of 
the  earthly  situation. 


THE    PREMILLENNIAL   AGE.  195 

Carefully  examine  the  description  of  the  divine 
General,  and  you  will  be  impressed  that  its  principal 
item  is  the  names  of  the  great  Personage  seen  :  (1) 
He  is  "  called  Faithful  and  True."  (2)  "  He  hath  a 
name  written  which  no  one  knoweth  but  lie  Him- 
self." (3)  "  His  name  is  called  the  Word  of  God." 
(4)  "He  hath  on  His  garment  and  on  His  thigh  a 
name  written,  King  of  kings  and  Lord  cf  lords." 
Names  are  knowledge.  They  are  descriptions  of 
character  and  summaries  of  history.  Titles  are  ac- 
quired by  great  deeds  and  remarkable  careers.  We 
cannot  be  mistaken  in  regarding  this  recital  of  the 
titles  of  Jesus,  as  He  appears  at  the  head  of  His  hosts, 
*  as  the  expression  of  the  knowledge  of  Him  that  is  to 
prevail  in  the  world  in  the  age  which  we  are  now  con- 
sidering. Like  a  field-marshal  at  the  head  of  his 
troops,  He  is  seen  covered  with  decorations,  every  one 
of  which  tells  of  some  grand  exploit  or  of  some  honor- 
able promotion. 

A  general  thus  renowned  marches  to  certain  tri- 
umph. His  mere  name  strikes  consternation  into  the 
breasts  of  His  enemies.  History  tells  how  the  name 
of  Lord  Clive  once  scattered  an  army  in  India  ;  the 
report  of  his  approach  dissolved  the  force  which  had 
been  gathered  to  meet  him.  It  is  surely  not  too 
much  to  expect  that  when,  for  the  last  time  before 
the  millennium,  the  ungodly  gather  for  a  great.crusade 
against  Christianity,  the  name  of  Christ,  with  all  its 
accumulated  glory,  will  carry  consternation  to  the 
hearts  of  that  confederation.  His  .well-known  faith- 
fulness to  His  people  through  so  many  ages,  the  dem- 
onstrated truth  of  both  His  promises  and  His  threaten- 


196  THE   WOELD    LIGHTED. 

ings,  the  fact  that  He  so  far  transcends  all  statement 
or  description,  that  He  is  the  revelation  of  God,  and 
that  so  many  of  earth's  most  kingly  kings,  have  ac- 
knowledged His  sovereignty — all  these  facts  will  be  so 
inseparably  associated  with  His  name  that  that  name 
alone  will  carry  victory  with  it  in  its  mere  utter- 
ance. 

The  completeness  of  the  conquest  is  set  forth  in 
several  astonishing  particulars.  The  one  most  imme- 
diately impressive  is  the  carnage  to  which  an  angel, 
standing  in  the  sun,  invites  all  the  scavenger  birds  of 
the  solar  system.  It  will  be  such  an  overthrow  as 
took  place  at  one  of  those  great  battles  of  history, 
M'here  the  course  of  empire  was  permanently  changed 
by  a  most  sanguinary  slaughter.  At  Chalons,  where 
Theodoric  and  his  Romans  checked  the  impetuous 
advance  of  Attila  and  the  Huns,  it  was  said  by  some 
that  one  hundred  and  sixty-two  thousand,  by  others 
that  three  hundred  thousand  were  left  dead  on  the 
field.  Such  a  complete  rout  we  are  to  understand 
the  Church  to  inflict  upon  all  its  opponents.  But  we 
must  remember  that  the  character  of  that  rout  is  spir- 
itual rather  than  carnal.  The  standing-place  of  the 
angel  who  proclaims  it  must  be  thought  of  not  as  the 
literal  sun,  but  as  the  great  source  of  truth  and  knowl- 
edge. The  sword  of  the  great  Commander,  which 
goes  out  of  His  mouth,  is  not  a  sword  of  steel,  but  of 
intellectual  and  moral  illumination.  The  victory  will 
be  that  grandest  of  all  victories,  when  opponents  cease 
to  be  such  not  by  being  deprived  of  bodily  life,  but 
by  being  convinced  of  the  unrighteousness  of  their 
cause,  and  enemies  not  only  cease  to  be  enemies,  but 


THE    PKEMILLENNIAL   AGE.  197 

become  true  and  ardent  friends.  Such  is  the  sublime 
triumph  which  the  lofty  character  of  Jesus  and  His 
magnificent  history  invite  us  to  expect  in  the  days 
when  He  shall  have  carried  His  cause  and  His 
people  to  the  very  verge  of  millennial  glory.  We 
could  not  be  satisfied  with  anything  less — surely  not 
with  a  horrible  triumph  of  physical  force,  such  as 
a  literal  interpretation  of  this  passage  would  find 
in  it. 

But  the  real  nature  of  this  success  is  made  still  more 
certain  by  the  statement  that  it  includes  the  capture 
and  destruction  of  the  beast  and  the  false  prophet. 
We  are  brought  face  to  face  with  the  actual  end  of 
*tke  world-power,  of  all  that  political  system  which 
rests  on  fraud  and  violence  rather  than  on  righteous- 
ness and  truth.  The  world  has  been  so  long  ruled  by 
unscrupulous  ambition  and  greed  that  anything  differ- 
ent and  superior  in  politics  seems  almost  as  unattain- 
able as  heaven.  But  the  time  is  to  come,  it  is  here 
shown  as  if  already  arrived,  when  human  government 
is  to  cease  to  be  administered  on  selfish  principles,  and 
all  its  laws  and  institutions  are  to  be  brought  into 
agreement  with  the  Bible  and  the  Church. 

Not  only  the  world-power,  but  the  false  prophet  is 
to  be  destroyed.  This  is  the  greatest  victory  of  all. 
When  popery  and  priestcraft  perished  false  teaching 
survived.  The  priests  are  only  one  class  of  the  blind 
guides.  Every  infidel  propagandist,  every  sophistical 
newspaper,  every  bad  book,  all  kinds  of  liars  and  all 
kinds  of  lies  must  be  regarded  as  included  in  the  false 
prophet.  When  he  ends  they  end.  Will  it  not  be 
wonderful?  Think  of  a  world  so  bright  with  learn-. 


198  THE   WORLD'  LIGHTED. 

ing,  so  filled  with  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord,  so  uni- 
versally educated  and  informed  that  no  lie  has  any 
longer  any  chance  of  being  believed  !  It  seems  too 
much  ever  to  be  true.  But  it  is  not  too  much,  for 
"  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it." 


XIX. 

THE   MILLENNIUM. 

HE  who  has  kept  company  with  me  through  the 
Apocalyptic  scenes  of  the  preceding  chapter  has  prob- 
ahly  felt  that  the  condition  of  the  world  there  de- 
scribed was  such  as  to  admit  little  further  improve- 
ment. We  are,  indeed,  well  on  toward  the  consum- 
mation of  the  prophetic  drama  ;  long  ago  mere  human 
,imagi nation  would  have  failed  to  invent  any  new  notes 
of  progress  ;  but  the  invention  of  inspiration,  with  the 
divine  foreknowledge  for  its  basis,  has  yet  some  steps 
to  take  before  reaching  its  conclusion. 

The  twentieth  chapter  of  Revelation  opens  with  an 
account  of  the  binding  of  Satan  by  an  angel  who 
comes  down  out  of  heaven,  having  the  key  of  the 
abyss  and  a  great  chain  in  his  hand.  He  lays  hold  of 
Satan  and  binds  him  and  casts  him  into  the  abyss  and 
shuts  and  seals  it  for  a  thousand  years,  during  which 
the  devil  can  no  more  deceive  the  nations. 

Alford  is -sure  that  this  is  a  veritable  angel  who 
binds  Satan,  but  the  reader  may  be  asked  to  reflect  if 
what  has  already  been  described  be  not  the  actual 
process  of  putting  the  Adversary  in  fetters  ?  Is  not 
Satan  restricted  by  every  advance  of  the  truth,  every 
success  of  the  Church,  every  defeat  of  his  minions  ? 
The  spread  of  knowledge  which  renders  priestcraft 
henceforth  impossible,  does  not  that  fetter  the  Devil  ? 


200  THE    WORLD   LIGHTED. 

The  prevalence  of  correct  political  ideas,  does  not  tliat 
mightily  hinder  the  Archdeinon  ?  The  education  of 
the  race  up  to  the  point  where  false  prophets  and  de- 
ceivers of  every  kind  lose  their  occupation  ;  how  can 
the  father  of  lies  ply  his  trade  after  that  ?  It  is  evi- 
dent that  the  history  given  in  the  nineteenth  chapter 
was  really  a  process  of  binding  Satan,  so  that  the 
grand  angel,  with  his  key  and  chain,  has  little  more  to 
do  than  to  picture  to  our  minds  what  has  already  vir- 
tually come  to  pass.  lie  serves  to  remind  us  that  the 
progress  of  spiritual  enlightenment  is  essentially 
heavenly  in  its  origin  and  heavenly  in  its  character. 

And  have  we  not  now  reached  the  Millennium  ? 
That  golden  age  to  which  the  Church  has  always 
looked  forward,  in  which  its  brightest  hopes  for  the 
children  of  men  are  to  be  realized  ?  Is  this  not  it  ? 
What  less  can  it  bo  ?  The  Church  honored  as  the 
Lamb's  wife,  beautiful  in  the  white  linen  of  her  right- 
eousness, ruling  over  a  world  in  which  there  is  no 
longer  ignorance  of  the  Bible,  spurious  religion, 
beastly  misgovernment,  misrepresentation  of  the  truth, 
human  opposer,  or  Satan  walking  about  as  a  roaring 
lion,  seeking  whom  he  may  devour  !  Surely  it  would 
be  hard  to  imagine  any  conditions  very  much  superior 
to  these  for  Christian  usefulness,  and  Christian  happi- 
ness, and  for  universal  well-being. 

There  are  those,  of  course,  who  would  add  to  this 
picture  the  personal  presence  of  the  Saviour  in  the 
world  as  a  visible  king  over  His  people.  But  the 
difficulties  of  such  a  view  are  insuperable.  Such  a 
feature  would  certainly  be  introduced  with  more  em- 
phasis into  the  description  than  in  the  quite  indirect 


THE    MILLENNIUM.  201 

manner  in  which  it  must,  if  at  all,  be  detected.  The 
second  coming  of  our  Lord  is  too  great  an  occurrence, 
and  is  constantly  represented  in  the  New  Testament 
as  too  majestic  a  demonstration,  to  be  supposed  to  have 
taken  place  at  this  point  with  so  little  to  indicate  it. 
If  the  binding  of  Satan  was  worthy  to  be  described  so 
dramatically,  why  not  the  far  greater  event  of  the 
reappearance  of  Jesus  upon  the  earth  ? 

The  second  coming  of  our  Lord  is,  indeed,  to  be 
found  in  this  chapter,  but  it  is  after  the  Millennium 
instead  of  before  it.  The  occupant  of  the  great  white 
throne  which  is  set  for  judgment  must  be  He,  for  He 
told  His  disciples  that  the  Father  had  committed  all 
judgment  unto  the  Son.  But  the  throne  is  not  set 
and  the  books  are  not  opened  until  the  thousand  years 
have  passed,  and  Satan  has  escaped  out  of  his  prison, 
and  Gog  and  Magog  have  fought  and  been  vanquished. 
It  is  out  of  the  question  to  find  any  premillennial 
advent  of  Jesus  here. 

He  reigns,  indeed,  during  the  Millennium  most 
truly  and  grandly  over  the  earth,  but  it  is  in  and 
through  His  people.  The  emphasis  is  all  upon  the 
human  representatives  of  His  sovereignty.  "  I  saw 
thrones,  and  they  sat  upon  them,  and  judgment  was 
given  unto  them"  Surely  the  authority  of  King 
Jesus  will  be  none  the  less  impressive  and  wonderful 
that  He  exercises  it  through  His  redeemed  people 
instead  of  by  reappearing  bodily  upon  earth.  The 
master  who  in  his  absence  is  none  the  less  master  than 
in  his  presence  with  his  servants  is  a  master  indeed. 
The  Christians  of  the  Millennium  will  not  need  watch- 
ing. •  They  will  be  like  "  that  faithful  and  wise  ser- 


XVZ  THE    WORLD   LIGHTED. 

vant"  whom  his  lord  can  "  find  so  doing,"  though  lie 
come  at  any  time  he  pleases.  The  grandeur  of  this 
period  is  enhanced  by  the  very  fact  that  the  people  of 
God  will  still  "  walk  by  faith  and  not  by  sight,"  and 
yet  "  reign  with  Christ"  as  really  as  if  He  were  visibly 
present  with  them.  The  necessity  of  His  visible  pres- 
ence would  be  a  sensible  detraction  from  the  spiritual 
glory  of  the  millennial  age. 

Another  great  misconception  of  this  period  which 
would  vastly  diminish  its  spiritual  splendor  is  that  the 
sovereigns  represented  as  enthroned  are  the  martyrs 
of  the  Church  only.  When  the  martyrs  enjoy  pecul- 
iar honor  and  influence,  will  not  the  whole  Church 
share  that  honor  and  influence  ?  It  is  impossible  to 
imagine  a  situation  which  would  be  pre-eminently 
advantageous  to  those  who  have  been  "  beheaded  for 
the  testimony  of  Jesus  and  for  the  Word  of  God," 
which  would  not  be  also  very  advantageous  for  every 
true  disciple.  But  the  prophecy  does  not  limit  the 
good  here  described  to  the  martyrs  only.  It  is  for  all 
"  such  as  worshipped  not  the  beast,  neither  his  image, 
and  received  not  the  mark  upon  their  forehead  and 
upon  their  hand. "  This  includes  all  real  Christians. 
Of  the  faithful  of  all  ages  it  must  in  some  way  be  true 
that  "  they  lived  and  reigned  with  Christ  a  thousand 
years."  . 

This  being  settled,  it  is  obvious  that  we  cannot  in- 
terpret the  language  "  the  first  resurrection"  literally. 
The  general  resurrection  of  the  just  we  are  elsewhere 
taught  to  expect  at  the  same  time  as  that  of  the  un- 
just. We  have  not  yet  reached  the  point  where  death 
is  to  be  literally  abolished  for  Christ's  people  by 'being 


THE   MILLENNIUM.  203 

cast  into  the  lake  of  fire.  During  tlie  thousand  years 
of  this  period  Christians  must  be  supposed  to  grow  old 
and  die  as  before.  Would  their  death  be  consistent 
with  a  state  of  things  in  which  the  sainted  dead  of 
former  generations  were  living  upon  the  earth  in  resur- 
rection bodies  ?  The  supposition  is  too  incongruous 
to  be  seriously  entertained.  Nor  is  it  necessary  to  en- 
tertain it.  We  escape  instantly  from  any  apparent 
necessity  of  entertaining  it  by  remembering  that  here, 
as  elsewhere  in  this  book,  we  are  dealing  with  sym- 
bolism which,  taken  literally,  hides  the  very  truths 
which  it  is  intended  to  disclose. 

u  The  first  resurrection,"  then,  must  be  a  figure  by 
wMcti  the  superior  glory  of  the  millennial  state  is  sug- 
gested. It  will  be  as  if  the  martyrs  had  risen  from 
their  graves  and  seated  themselves  in  the  places  of 
earthly  power  and  dignity.  So  great  will  be  the  con- 
trast between  the  millennial  age  and  former  ages,  that 
the  kind  of  persons  formerly  most  hated  and  abused 
will  be  the  very  class  most  loved  and  obeyed.  It  is 
impossible  to  imagine  a  greater  revolution.  The 
martyrs  lost  their  lives  because  the  world  did  not  un- 
derstand them,  and  "  was  not  worthy  of  them." 
They  were  victims  of  the  deceit,  ignorance,  vice, 
superstition,  and  tyranny  which  made  their  times  so 
dark.  But  the  time  which  we  are  contemplating  is 
to  be  the  exact  opposite  of  all  this.  The  martyr  char- 
acter will  then  be  so  thoroughly  understood,  so  highly 
appreciated,  so  warmly  loved,  so  faithfully  repro- 
duced, that  it  will  live,  and  flourish,  and  reign  all 
over  the  earth.  Will  not  that  be  the  best  possible 
•millennium,  and  will  not  the  situation  of  the  Church 


204  THE   WORLD   LIGHTED. 

be   worthy   to   be  described  as   "  the   first  resurrec- 
tion" ? 

Alford  vehemently  protests  against  such  an  inter- 
pretation on  the  ground  that  "  the  first  resurrection" 
is  so  called  in  contrast  with  that  of  the  "  rest  of  the 
dead,"  who  "  lived  not  until  the  thousand  years  should 
be  finished."  He  says  that  if  "  the  first  resurrection 
may  be  understood  to  mean  spiritual  rising  with  Christ, 
while  the  second  means  literal  rising  from  the  grave, 
then  there  is  an  end  to  all  significance  in  language,  and 
Scripture  is  wiped  out  as  a  definite  testimony  to  any- 
thing. If  the  first  resurrection  is  spiritual,  then  so  is 
the  second,  which  I  suppose  none  will  be  hardy  enough 
to  maintain."  Alford  is  very  warm,  but  the  concep- 
tion which  he  scouts  as  too  preposterous  to  be  consid- 
ered appears  to  me  the  only  proper  interpretation. 
So  thinks  Dr.  Justin  A.  Smith  and  so  thinks  Dr. 
Alvah  Ilovey.  There  is  really  no  difficulty  about 
making  both  resurrections  spiritual.  The  spiritual 
resurrection  of  the  martyrs  is  the  period  during  which 
they  will  be  honored  and  imitated.  The  spiritual 
resurrection  of  the  "rest  of  the  dead" — that  is,  of 
the  wicked  dead,  will  be  that  strange  outbreak  of  sin 
and  violence  which  is  announced  as  to  take  place  at 
the  close  of  the  millennium.  When  Gog  and  Magog 
come  forth  from  the  four  corners  of  the  earth,  as  the 
sand  of  the  sea  in  multitude,  to  compass  the  camp  of 
the  saints  and  the  beloved  city,  it  will  be  as  if  all  the 
bad  emperors,  and  all  the  wicked  popes,  and  all  the 
bloodthirsty  inquisitors  had  risen  from  their  graves 
and  covered  the  "breadth  of  the  earth"  with  their 
polluting,  destroying  legions.  With  such  a  concep- 


THE    MILLENNIUM.  205 

tion  before  the  inspiring  Mind,  no  wonder  it  ex- 
claimed, "  Blessed  and  holy  is  he  that  hath  part  in  the 
first  resurrection  ;  over  these  the  second  death  hath 
no  power  ;  but  they  shall  be  priests  of  God  and  of 
ChrisL  and  shall  reign  with  Him  a  thousand  years." 

That  any  one  should  take  the  "thousand  years" 
literally  seems  very  strange  to  one  who  has  recognized 
the  thoroughly  symbolical  character  of  the  whole 
book.  It  is  no  less  symbolic  in  its  use  of  numbers 
than  it  is  in  other  respects.  In  fact,  it  is  the  num- 
bers of  the  Apocalypse  which  all  would  most  easily 
perceive  to  be  symbolic.  Nobody,  perhaps,  would 
take  the  "sevens"  of  this  book  literally,  and  few 
wotUu  imagine  the  days,  hours,  and  months  literal 
periods.  Why  should  this  thousand  years  be  an  ex- 
ception to  the  general  rule  ?  There  is  no  good  reason 
for  so  regarding  it.  The  attempt  to  compute  the  age 
of  the  world  by  an  estimate,  into  which  the  millennial 
period  enters  as  a  literal  thousand  years,  is  a  mathe- 
matical conjecture  from  which  nothing  can  be  ex- 
pected, because  one  of  the  chief  quantities  of  the 
problem  is  utterly  indefinite. 

This,  however,  may  be  said,  that  the  evident  inten- 
tion of  inspiration  is  to  assure  us  that  the  era  of  right- 
eousness will  be  exceedingly  protracted,  of  a  duration 
whose  length  in  terms  of  earthly  years  seems  bewilder- 
ingly  extended.  For  if  the  period  of  evil,  during 
which  the  enemies  of  God  have  the  upper  hand  in  the 
world,  is  represented  by  the  short  time  of  forty-and- 
two  months,  or  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  days,  or 
three  and  one-half  years,  then  how  long  will  the 
period  of  good  last,  which  is  represented  by  a  thou- 


206  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

sand  years,  to  carry  out  the  proportion  between  the 
numbers  ?  The  period  of  evil  is  not  yet  over,  and 
will  not  be  until  the  papacy,  worldly  powers,  and 
false  teachers  are  all  oat  of  the  way.  If  our  two 
thousand  years  of  struggle  with  adverse  influences  be 
called  three  and  one-half  years  in  the  prophecy,  how 
long  will  be  the  reign  of  the  saints  represented  by  one 
thousand  years  ?  It  is  indisputable  that  this  number 
stands  for  a  duration  of  the  kingdom  of  light  im- 
mensely great,  so  great  as  almost  to  take  one's  breath 
away  in  its  contemplation.  Those  who  are  ciphering 
out  the  speedy  end  of  the  world  can  find  no  aid  or 
comfort  here.  It  will  be  as  it  ought  to  be  ;  the  time 
of  the  wicked  will  be  comparatively  short  upon  the 
earth,  and  the  time  of  the  good  will  be  inconceivably 
extended.  God  will  not  build  up  His  earthly  empire 
and  then  immediately  destroy  it.  It  will  last  as  good 
things  can  last  and  ought  to  last  ;  last  long  enough  to 
show  that,  in  spite  of  all  the  cunning  of  the  wicked, 
-it  is  the  meek  who  "  inherit  the  earth." 

That  such  a  protracted  period  of  righteousness 
would  be  followed  by  even  a  temporary  reaction  we 
shoulJ  not  suppose  had  we  not  an  explicit  prediction 
of  the  event.  That  Satan  should  ever  get  loose  again, 
and,  being  loose,  should  find  anywhere  in  the  millen- 
nial world  anybody  to  deceive  and  use  for  his  base 
purposes,  is  not  certainly  a  fact  which  we  should  an- 
ticipate. But  thus,  we  are  informed,  it  is  to  be.  The 
fair  earth,  bright  with  the  light  of  Christian  knowl- 
edge, is  to  be  darkened  by  one  more  spiritual  eclipse  ; 
the  broad  empire  of  Jesus  is  to  produce  one  more  in- 
surrection. The  myrmidons  of  the  devil  are  to  muster 


THE    MILLENNIUM.  207 

from  every  corner  of  the  earth,  and  be  arrayed  in 
countless,  numbers  against  the  righteous  government 
of  the  Church  and  against  all  her  holy  institutions. 
Where  such  hordes  can  come  from  we  could  not 
imagine  did  we  not  remember  that  human  nature 
must  always  remain  the  same,  and  that  every  oncom- 
ing generation  would  sweep  Christianity  from  the 
globe,  were  it  not  met  and  transformed  by  the  con- 
verting power  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Any  remissness 
on  the  part  of  Christian  people,  any  over-confidence 
produced  by  a  long  period  of  security,  would  permit 
a  generation  of  unconverted  children  to  grow  up,  who 
would  soon  reverse  the  whole  situation.  A  possibility 
lifce  this  is  sufficient  to  remove  the  incredulity  which 
we  naturally  feel  at  the  prediction  of  that  unholy  war 
which  the  world  is  to  see  even  after  it  has  enjoyed  its 
symbolic  thousand  years  of  "  righteousness,  and  peace, 
and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost." 

How  long  this  era  of  misrule  is  to  last  we  have  no 
hint,  but  the  natural  impression  of  the  story  is  that 
the  triumph  of  the  wicked  will  be  short.  It  needed 
but  this  one  more  struggle  with  evil  to  complete  the 
education  of  the  Church  in  this  direction  and  finish 
its  probation.  It  needed  but  this  one  more  oppor- 
tunity for  the  Devil  and  his  servants  to  fill  up  the  cup 
of  their  iniquity,  and  to  reach  the  doom  prepared  for 
them.  The  frenzy  of  a  rebellion  against  the  peace 
and  order  of  the  millennial  state,  is  not  only  the  last, 
but  the  worst  exhibition  of  what  sin  and  sinners  are 
capable  of  doing.  In  proportion  to  the  moral  gran- 
deur of  that  Christian  civilization  whose  beauty  and 
blessedness  will  have  perpetuated  themselves  by  their 


208  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

very  excellence  for  a  period  almost  unlimited  will 
appear  the  depravity  of  that  causeless  and  inexcusable 
insurrection  which  could  be  willing  to  swallow  up  so 
much  happiness.  Such  gigantic  criminality  will 
loudly  call  for  divine  judgments,  and  will  receive  them. 
The  wrath  of  God  will  smite  the  offenders  with  His 
heaviest  thunderbolts,  and,  as  of  old,  the  righteous  will 
have  only  to  stand  still  and  see  the  salvation  of  God. 
The  Arch-adversary  will  be  pnt  where  he  can  do  no 
more  mischief,  and  can  forever  only  writhe  in  the  tor- 
ment of  his  impotent  malice. 

We  have  now  reached  the  last  scene  in  the  history 
of  our  present  dispensation.  It  winds  up  with  the 
coming  of  Christ  in  His  glory,  the  general  resurrec- 
tion, and  the  Judgment  Day.  What  events  are  these 
to  complete  the  education  of  the  Church,  and  to  fit 
God's  people  for  everlasting  blessedness  !  If  any- 
thing were  lacking  in  our  human  outfit  for  a  happy 
eternity,  surely  it  would  be  supplied  on  this  last  great 
day.  What  shall  we  not  know  which  we  need  to 
know  when  the  books  are  opened  which  contain  those 
final  disclosures  ?  There  will  not  then  remain  any 
ignorance  in  any  sanctified  mind  that  will  lessen  its 
usefulness  or  endanger  its  happiness.  At  the  time 
that  the  sea  and  Hades  give  up  their  dead,  and  they 
that  are  alive  are  caught  up  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the 
air,  we  may  say  that  the  world  is  now  perfectly  illu- 
minated, and  all  that  was  promised  in  the  first  chapter 
of  Revelation  is  now  fully  accomplished. 


XX. 

THE   NEW    JERUSALEM. 

THE  process  of  the  illumination  of  our  race  having 
been  completed  by  the  disclosures  of  the  Judgment 
Day,  the  proper  termination  of  the  Apocalypse  would 
seem  to  be  a  symbolic  representation  of  the  grand  re- 
sult accomplished.  That  is  precisely  what  we  have 
in^he  twenty-first  and  twenty-second  chapters  of  the 
book.  Its  end  seems  just  what  our  theory  of  its  in- 
terpretation  requires.  These  last  chapters  show  the 
world  lighted /  the  glorious  education  of  the  saved 
race  of  man  in  its  magnificent  completeness. 

Even  those  who  have  the  least  notion  of  the  general 
tenor  of  the  prophecy  cannot  help  seeing  the  blaze  of 
splendor  which  bursts  forth  from  the  final  chapters. 
Whether  it  be  the  splendor  of  the  Church  on  earth 
or  of  the  glorified  in  heaven  a  casual  reader  might  be 
uncertain,  but  of  one  thing  he  might  be  sure,  that 
everything  on  earth  that  is  brightest  is  used  to  heighten 
the  description.  Its  principal  characteristic  is  light. 
The  holy  Jerusalem  is  seen  <c  descending  out  of 
heaven,  having  the  glory  of  God,  and  her  light  is  like 
unto  a  stone  most  precious,  even  like  a  jasper  stone, 
clear  as  crystal."  "  And  the  building  of  the  wall  of 
it  was  jasper  /  and  the  city  was  pure  gold,  like  unto 
clear  glass."  "  And  the  city  had  no  need  of  the  sun, 
neither  of  the  moon  to  shine  in  it,  for  the  glory  of 


210  THE    WORLD    LIGHTED. 

God  did  lighten  it,  and  the  Lamb  is  the  light  there- 
of." "  And  the  nations  of  them  that  are  saved  shall 
walk  in  the  light  of  it.'7  "There  shall  be  no  night 
there."  "And  there  shall  be  no  night  there;  and 
they  need  no  candle,  neither  light  of  the  snn  ;  for  the 
Lord  God  giveth  them  light." 

One  has  only  to  read  these  words  and  to  remember 
that  the  first  chapter  of  the  book  was  a  display  of  the 
luminaries  by  means  of  which  it  was  proposed  to  light 
up  the  world,  to  feel  that  the  fulfilment  of  their 
promise  is  now  exhibited.  The  world  is  seen  actually 
lighted.  Night  has  given  place  to  everlasting  day. 
The  new  earth  needs  neither  snn,  nor  moon,  nor 
artificial  lamp,  because  it  has  become  self-luminous, 
being  interpenetrated  everywhere  by  the  glory  of 
God. 

The  more  we  dwell  upon  the  terms  used  to  describe 
the  New  Jerusalem,  the  more  we  shall  perceive  this 
wonderful  transformation.  The  glory  of  God  which 
blazes  forth  from  the  city  is  that  supernal  sp/endor 
which  Moses  saw  in  the  burning  bush  and  Solomon 
in  the  temple  ;  which  shone  around  the  shepherds  at 
the  birth  of  Christ,  and  caused  the  noonday  of  Damas- 
cus to  pale  before  it.  The  jasper  stone,  clear  as  crys- 
tal, is  the  very  jewel  chosen  to  represent  the  softened 
radiance  of  the  divine  Sun  early  in  this  same  book. 
The  very  walls  of  this  city  are  jasper,  and  its  founda- 
tions precious  stones  in  all  the  colors  of  the  rainbow, 
these  symbols  of  God  having  now  become  the  symbols 
of  the  Church.  Even  the  golden  streets  are  clear  as 
glass,  by  which  is  evidently  meant  that  there  is  no 
part  of  the  glorified  Church  which  is  not  purified 


THE    NEW    JERUSALEM.  211 

from  all  taint  of  darkness  and  permeated  by  the  light 
of  God.  The  once  opaque  earth,  hiding  in  its  bosom 
the  darkness  of  midnight  and  having  no  light  except 
as  it  received  it  from  some  foreign  source,  is  now 
become  itself  a  luminary,  able  to  shed  light  on  other 
orbs.  Among  all  the  stars  and  suns  which  glitter  in 
the  concave  above  us,  none  can  seem  so  magnificent  a 
light-bearer  as  this  holy  city  which  John  saw  descend- 
ing from  heaven. 

The  question  arises,  Is  this  the  description  of  saved 
humanity  in  heaven,  or  are  we  to  understand  by  it 
the  future  of  our  own  planet  after  it  has  been  purified 
by  fire  and  so  reconstructed  that  it  is  fit  to  be  the 
dwelling-place  of  a  perfected  race  ?  Most  commen- 
tators seem  to  cling  to  the  latter  idea.  So  careful  and 
spiritual  an  interpreter  as  Dr.  Justin  A.  Smith  quite 
endorses  the  notion  that  these  last  chapters  of  the 
Apocalypse  not  only  picture  to  us  a  spiritual  state, 
but  contain  hints  of  the  later  geography  of  the  globe. 
He  is  willing  to  take  literally  the  statement  that  there 
is  to  be  "  no  more  sea."  Alford  struggles  with  the 
statement  that  the  height  of  the  city  was  equal  to  its 
enormous  length  and  breadth,  and  after  calling  Diister- 
dieck's  view  that  the  houses  were  three  hundred  and 
seventy- five  miles  high  "  too  absurd  "to  be  consid- 
ered, gives  his  own,  that  together  with  the  mountain 
on  which  the  city  stood  it  was  three  hundred  and 
seventy-five  miles  high,  which  he  evidently  regards 
as  a  reasonable  estimate.  It  seems  to  me  that  such 
interpretations  furnish  the  reductio  ad  absurdum  of 
the  attempt  to  find  in  this  description  the  geography 
of  the  earth  after  the  Judgment  Day. 


212  THE   WORLD   LIGHTED. 

An  earth  with  no  sea,  and  therefore  with  no  rivers, 
rivulets,  lakes,  fountains,  wells,  clouds,  or  water  ;  an 
earth  with  mountains  three  hundred  and  seventy-five 
miles  high  would  be  an  earth  so  different  from  the 
present  one  as  to  be  practically  a  different  place  alto- 
gether. I  cannot  imagine  any  object  for  which  the 
glorified  saints  would  desire  to  return  to  such  a  place. 
Certainly  there  would  be  nothing  familiar  about  it, 
nor  does  it  seem  to  our  minds  nearly  so  beautiful  and 
attractive  as  our  present  earth.  The  suggested 
changes  are  such  as  to  remind  us  of  what  astronomers 
say  to  be  the  present  condition  of  the  moon,  a  huge 
excoriated  cinder,  with  nothing  left  but  its  ugly 
burned  bones.  To  imagine  the  sanctified  children  of 
earth,  who  have  dwelt  for  a  while  in  the  heavenly 
mansions,  to  have  to  come  back  to  such  an  earth,  which 
their  recollections  of  its  former  fairness  would  make 
seem  all  the  more  dreary,  is  anything  but  a  conception 
of  heightened  happiness.  The  naturalized  inhabitants 
of  heaven  would  not  be  likely  to  relish  an  invitation 
to  return  to  any  earth  any  more  than  a  well-to-do  Irish- 
man in  America  would  relish  an  invitation  to  return 
to  the  peat-bogs  and  mud  cabins  of  the  Emerald  Isle. 

No  ;  it  is  impossible  to  take  the  symbolism  of  these 
last  chapters  of  the  Revelation  with  any  degree  of 
literalness.  Dr.  Smith  quotes  Stuart  approvingly 
where  he  says,  regarding  the  loftiness  of  the  New 
Jerusalem,  "  We  are  relieved  by  calling  to  mind  that 
all  is  symbol."  Precisely.  But  it  is  as  difficult  to 
find  anything  but  symbol  in  one  place  as  in  another. 
It  is  as  dangerous  to  look  for  topography  in  the  first 
item  as  in  the  last. 


THE   NEW   JERUSALEM.  213 

What  is  it  that  is  symbolized  ?  The  final,  glorified 
state  of  the  Church.  Where  in  the  universe  that 
Church  is  to  be  this  vision  gives  us  not  the  slightest 
hint,  except  that  it  will  be  in  heaven.  The  earth 
which  is  described  is  not  the  material  earth,  but  the 
spiritual  one.  Wherever  the  saved  inhabitants  of 
this  planet  finally  dwell,  there  will  be  a  new  earth,  as 
the  residence  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  on  this  continent 
made  here  a  New  England.  The  people  of  this 
globe  are  the  most  important  part  of  it,  and  when  it 
has  been  so  desiccated  by  fire  as  to  have  no  more  sea 
in  it,  the  real  earth  will  be  where  they  are  and  not 
"^where  it  is. 

"  A  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth. ''  Let  us  not  for- 
get that  the  heaven  is  to  be  a  new  one  as  well  as  the 
earth.  Will  not  heaven  be  a  new  place  when  earth, 
the  people  of  earth,  are  brought  into  it  ?  The  heaven 
where  the  four-and- twenty  elders  sit  upon  their  four- 
and-twenty  thrones,  and  the  blood- washed  multitude 
sing  the  new  song,  is  essentially  a  different  place  from 
what  it  was  before  their  admission.  The  great  change 
in  the  new  heaven  and  the  new  earth  from  the  old 
heaven  and  the  old  earth  is  that  they  are  brought  into 
such  close  relation.  "  There  is  no  more  sea."  The 
sea  is  the  symbol  of  separation.  I  think  not  of  the 
ocean  of  water  which  divides  Europe  from  America, 
but  of  that  ocean  of  space  which  divides  planet  from 
planet,  and  star  from  star,  and  earth  from  heaven. 
That  sea  will  be  no  more  when  earth  and  heaven  are 
brought  into  actual  juxtaposition.  The  earth  will  be 
in  heaven.  The  same  blessed  truth  is  suggested  by 
the  towering  up  of  the  New  Jerusalem  three  hundred 


214  THE   WORLD   LIGHTED. 

and  seventy-five  miles  into  the  sky.  When  we  can 
get  up  as  far  as  that  we  can  get  clear  up.  Heaven 
and  earth  will  have  met  at  the  top  of  that  mountain. 

The  same  thing  is  hinted  in  the  statement  that 
the  New  Jerusalem  is  "  made  ready  as  a  bride  adorned 
for  her  husband"  Husbands  and  wives  generally 
live  together,  and  when  the  great  King  marries  His 
earthly  bride  He  will  probably  take  her  to  His  palace 
and  His  capital.  He  will  not  go  to  the  humbler 
abode. 

Removal  of  all  separation!  This  is  the  thought 
which  is  repeated  again  and  again.  "  And  I  heard  a 
great  voice  of  the  .throne  saying,  Behold,  the  taber- 
nacle of  God  is  with  men,  and  He  shall  dwell  with 
them,  and  they  shall  be  His  people,  and  God  Himself 
shall  be  with  them,  their  God  ;  and  He  shall  wipe 
away  every  tear  from  their  eyes  ;  and  death  shall  be 
no  more,  neither  shall  there  be  mourning,  nor  cry- 
ing, nor  pain  any  more  ;  the  first  things  are  passed 
away."  It  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  this  total  revo- 
lution in  an  earthly  situation.  Even  through  the 
millennial  ages  death  is  represented  as  continuing  on 
the  globe.  It  is  not  finally  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire 
until  the  resurrection  morning.  But  when  the  saints 
are  "  caught  up  to  meet  the  "Lord  in  the  air,  to  be 
forever  with  the  Lord,"  all  death  and  all  sorrow  seem 
forever  precluded. 

The  character  of  the  people  who  are  to  constitute 
this  new  earth  is  stated  in  such  terms  as  to  harmonize 
with  the  symbolism.  The  symbol  is  a  city  transparent 
in  every  part  and  radiant  with  the  light  of  God.  This 
means,  of  course,  perfect  knowledge,  perfect  sin- 


THE   NEW   JERUSALEM.  215 

cerity,  and  perfect  purity.  Twice  the  character  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  city  is  indicated  by  a  contrast, 
the  climax  of  which  is  that  they  are  not  liars,  they 
do  not  make  a  lie.  They  are  such  that  the  nations 
can  walk  in  the  light  of  their  teaching  and  example. 
The  kings  of  the  earth  bring  their  glory  and  honor 
ihto  this  city,  and  the  glory  and  honor  of  the  nations 
are  brought  into  it.  This,  I  suppose,  means  the  real 
kings,  not  the  titular  kings,  and  the  real  glory  and 
honor,  not  the  sham  and  shabby  glory.  The  real  kings 
of  the  earth  are  its  teachers,  the  rulers  of  its  best 
thought,  and  the  greatest  glory  of  man,  the  Bible  tells 
HA,  is  to  know  God.  All  the  items  of  this  description 
harmonize  with  the  symbols,  and  set  before  our  minds 
a  human  society  no  longer  stumbling  in  the  darkness 
of  ignorance  and  sin,  but  walking  in  the  light  of  life 
and  of  heaven. 

The  last  picture  of  the  book  is  the  description  of  a 
spiritual  paradise.  Through  the  midst  of  the  city 
flows  "  a  river  of  water  of  life,  bright  as  crystal,  pro- 
ceeding out  of  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb." 
This  river  washes  the  roots  of  the  trees  of  life  upon 
its  banks,  and  keeps  them  perennially  green  and  fruit- 
ful. Nothing  seems  to  me  stranger  than  the  fact  that 
no  commentator  whom  I  have  read,  not  even  .the  most 
spiritual,  has  here  thought  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  the 
reality  symbolized  by  this  crystal  stream.  Yet  noth- 
ing could  be  more  natural  than  such  a  thought. 
Water  is  widely  employed  in  the  Scriptures  as  a  sym- 
bol of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  Gospel  of  John  explains 
the  living  water  to  be  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  good 
man  of  the  first  psalm,  who  meditates  in  the  inspired 


216  THE   WORLD    LIGHTED. 

law,  is  like  a  tree  planted  by  a  river  of  water.  The 
stream  which  Ezekiel  saw  coming  forth  from  the 
threshold  of  the  temple  and  deepening  as  it  ran  until 
it  gave  life  to  the  Dead  Sea  is  undoubtedly  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Here  the  water  proceeds  from  the  throne  of 
God  and  of  the  Lamb,  which  represents  the  procession 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  from  the  Father  and  the  Son. 

And  if  we  ask  what  is  to  maintain  the  sanctified 
Church  in  the  enjoyment  of  its  exalted  privileges, 
what  is  the  answer  but  the  Holy  Spirit  ?  "  He  shall 
teach  you  all  things"  is  to  be  as  true  of  heaven  as  of 
earth.  "  They  shall  be  all  taught  of  God  "  as  well 
there  as  here.  There,  as  here,  He  will  lead  the  saints 
of  God  "  into  all  truth,"  and  because  they  have  Him 
for  their  constant  guide  and  instructor,  they  will  con- 
stantly advance  and  never  retrograde. 

Have  we  not  reached  the  last  possible  suggestion  of 
the  final  goodness  and  glory  of  the  redeemed  ?  If 
they  have  the  holy  Spirit  in  perpetual  enjoyment,  they 
will  bear  the  "  fruit  of  the  Spirit."  They  will  bear 
"twelve  manner  of  fruits,"  which  must  mean  all 
kinds  of  fruits  which  are  possible  to  that  combination 
of  the  divine  and  human  natures  which  is  represented 
by  twelve,  the  product  of  the  divine  number,  three,  by 
the  human  number,  four.  That  the  leaves  of  these 
trees  of  life  are  to  be  for  "  the  healing  of  the  nations" 
may  serve  dimly  to  suggest  to  us  the  influence  for 
good  in  this  universe  of  the  people  whom  God  will 
have  saved  from  the  evil  of  earth  and  associated  with 
Himself  in  the  most  intimate  and  blessed  partnership 
which  can  exist  between  the  Creator  and  any  of  His 
creatures.  "  The;v  shall  see  His  face  ;  His  name  shall 


THE    NEW   JERUSALEM.  217 

be  in  their  foreheads  ;  .  they  shall  reign  for- 

ever and  ever." 

As  I  close  these  studies  in  the  Apocalypse  I  am 
impelled  to  bear  my  testimony  to  the  fulness  of  its 
inspiration.  It  seems  to  me  the  most  wonderful 
prophecy  of  the  Bible.  Both  the  themes  which  it 
treats  and  the  manner  in  which  it  treats  them  are  far 
beyond  mere  human  art.  Kenan's  pitiful  slur  that 
this  book  is  the  product  of  petty  malignity  among  the 
apostles  could  never  be  uttered  by  any  one  who  had 
any  worthy  conception  of  the  contents  of  the  book. 
It  is  like  a  spiritual  telescope  put  to  the  eye  of  the 
reader,  enabling  him  to  behold  the  most  distant  scenes 
ifl  time  and  in  space.  How  wide  its  scope  !  How 
far  its  outlook  !  How  grand  its  theme  !  How  in- 
spiring its  revelations  !  It  is  exactly  what  it  needs  to 
be  to  occupy  its  place  in  the  canon,  to  be  the  final 
word  of  the  revealing  Mind,  and,  in  some  respects, 
its  grandest. 

One  who  attempts  to  comment  upon  this  book  can- 
not fail  to  feel  its  warning  against  any  addition  to  the 
prophecy  or  subtraction  from  it.  1  ask  myself  if  I 
have  thus  drawn  upon  myself  "  the  plagues  that  are 
written  in  this  book."  My  thought  has  been  neither 
to  add  to  nor  to  take  from  ;  1  have  studied  and  writ- 
ten with  the  profoundest  reverence  in  my  heart,  and 
the  desire  to  let  the  words  of  God  produce  their  own 
impression  upon  my  mind.  It  is  with  the  hope  that 
I  have  contributed  to  the  knowledge  of  my  readers 
that  which  will  make  the  Apocalypse  to  them  the 
same  treasury  of  blessed  information  that  it  has  be- 
come to  me,  that  I  have  written  these  pages.  If  those 


218  THB   WOKLD    LIGHTED. 

who  read  them  feel  as  I  feel,  I  am  sure  1  shall  have 
done  them  or  the  book  no  harm.  My  heart  glows 
with  a  brighter  hope,  and  is  nerved  with  a  more 
cheerful  courage  and  a  stronger  determination,  as  I 
think  of  those  bright  and  happy  views  of  the  world's 
future  which  I  have  gained  from  the  Apocalypse. 

The  "coming"  of  which  it  discourses  is,  first  and 
chiefly,  the  coming  of  Christ  as  the  Truth.  As  we 
see  how  much  that  means,  what  consequences  it  in- 
volves, we  are  impelled  to  join  in  the  prayer  of  the 
book,  "  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly  !"  So  He  prom- 
ises to  come ;  and  considered  with  reference  to  the 
work  to  be  done  and  the  tremendous  difficulties  to  be 
encountered,  the  coming  is  quick,  though  it  seems  to 
us  to  be  so  slow.  Doubtless  the  latter  stages  of  its 
progress  will  be  far  more  rapid.  When  broad  founda- 
tions have  been  laid  and  the  way  thoroughly  prepared 
the  Lord  will  hasten  His  coming. 

Thank  God,  we  may  all  share  in  the  vast  benefits 
which  this  book  pictures.  As  we  see  their  greatness 
and  grandeur,  they  seem  too  much  for  such  creatures 
as  we  are  to  obtain.  But  they  are  freely  offered  to 
us  all.  "  ^Whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the  water  of 
life  freely  !"  Oh,  that  an  intelligent  view  of  the 
blessedness  disclosed  in  the  Apocalypse,  as  the  possible 
portion  of  every  child  of  man,  may  move  every  soul 
to  an  immediate  and  grateful  acceptance  of  the  gift  ! 


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